An improved effort but still an unsuccessful result as Washington lost its third straight, 2-1 in a shootout against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Fortunately for Washington, in addition to gaining one point they saw Mikhail Grabovski avoid serious harm when he was hit in the face by a skate.
Five thoughts on the Caps’ shootout loss in Toronto.
1. Defending Ovechkin For 55 minutes the Maple Leafs did a thorough job of limiting Alex Ovechkin. Multiple times as Ovechkin tried to carry the puck around the offensive zone, there was a well-placed Toronto stick swatting it off his. He didn’t attempt a single shot in the first period, with his first shot on goal coming 25:22 into the contest. It wasn’t until the final frame of regulation that Ovechkin started to find space as he pushed to help tie the game — Ovechkin recorded nine of his 10 total attempts and six shots on goal in the third period and overtime.
While Coach Adam Oates said he didn’t think Toronto “did anything extra well” to limit Ovechkin, but where the star winger himself noticed the special attention on the power play most. The Leafs are the latest team to shadow the hulking winger on the man-advantage and force Washington to adjust their approach.
“Everywhere I go on the power play the guys just stayed close,” Ovechkin said, using the distance between himself and reporters postgame as an example.
“We made an adjustment on the penalty-killing to give them the one-time shot from the middle to take him away,” Leafs Coach Randy Carlyle explained. “It didn’t look very good, but consciously we felt it would be more of advantage for us to let our goalie see the one-time shot from the other players other than Ovechkin. You see what he can do with it. He gets one chance out of a puck that kinds of falls into his lap and he whips it inside the post [for a third-period goal] where I don’t think any goalie would’ve stopped.”
2. No. 20 For as well as Toronto kept Ovechkin in check for the first 55 minutes Saturday night, he showed precisely why he is such a dangerous offensive threat when he capitalized on a fluky play.
Mike Green fired a pass up ice and the puck took a slightly odd bounce, landing and sputtering over toward the left side boards – exactly in Ovechkin’s wheelhouse. He blasted a slap shot past James Reimer blocker side to tie the score at 1 with 15:50 gone in the third.
“Lucky bounce, puck kind of stop and I have opportunity to shoot it and it goes in,” Ovechkin said. “I feel my shot well.”
The goal marked Ovechkin’s 20th of the season and gives him three more goals than any other player in the league. Only two other active players have scored 20 or more goals in their first nine seasons – veterans Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne.
Five thoughts on the Caps’ shootout loss in Toronto.
1. Defending Ovechkin For 55 minutes the Maple Leafs did a thorough job of limiting Alex Ovechkin. Multiple times as Ovechkin tried to carry the puck around the offensive zone, there was a well-placed Toronto stick swatting it off his. He didn’t attempt a single shot in the first period, with his first shot on goal coming 25:22 into the contest. It wasn’t until the final frame of regulation that Ovechkin started to find space as he pushed to help tie the game — Ovechkin recorded nine of his 10 total attempts and six shots on goal in the third period and overtime.
While Coach Adam Oates said he didn’t think Toronto “did anything extra well” to limit Ovechkin, but where the star winger himself noticed the special attention on the power play most. The Leafs are the latest team to shadow the hulking winger on the man-advantage and force Washington to adjust their approach.
“Everywhere I go on the power play the guys just stayed close,” Ovechkin said, using the distance between himself and reporters postgame as an example.
“We made an adjustment on the penalty-killing to give them the one-time shot from the middle to take him away,” Leafs Coach Randy Carlyle explained. “It didn’t look very good, but consciously we felt it would be more of advantage for us to let our goalie see the one-time shot from the other players other than Ovechkin. You see what he can do with it. He gets one chance out of a puck that kinds of falls into his lap and he whips it inside the post [for a third-period goal] where I don’t think any goalie would’ve stopped.”
2. No. 20 For as well as Toronto kept Ovechkin in check for the first 55 minutes Saturday night, he showed precisely why he is such a dangerous offensive threat when he capitalized on a fluky play.
Mike Green fired a pass up ice and the puck took a slightly odd bounce, landing and sputtering over toward the left side boards – exactly in Ovechkin’s wheelhouse. He blasted a slap shot past James Reimer blocker side to tie the score at 1 with 15:50 gone in the third.
“Lucky bounce, puck kind of stop and I have opportunity to shoot it and it goes in,” Ovechkin said. “I feel my shot well.”
The goal marked Ovechkin’s 20th of the season and gives him three more goals than any other player in the league. Only two other active players have scored 20 or more goals in their first nine seasons – veterans Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne.
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