An annoying cacophony of cowbells rang loud for nearly four hours in Washington D.C. on Saturday, but that racket was silenced with the clock closing in on midnight, as the Toronto Maple Leafs evened their best-of-seven playoff series with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Capitals at the Verizon Center.
Rookie Kasperi Kapanen scored his second goal of the game on a set up from linemate Brian Boyle at 11:53 of double overtime to give Toronto their first playoff victory in nearly four years.
The 20-year-old winger was called up late in the season after scoring a point-per-game with the AHL Toronto Marlies. Kapanen had one goal in 18 NHL games, but combined with linemates Matt Martin and Brian Boyle to score a momentum changing tying goal late in the second period and the game-winner.
“All the credit has to go to (Matt Martin) and (Boyle) for working hard in the corner there and I think one of their D-men lost their stick.” Kapanen said after the game. “I was yelling for it because I had a clear lane. Boyler made an amazing pass, so I got to put it in the empty-net.”
The former Penguins first round pick has developed a reputation in the last two seasons for scoring big goals at every level. In the 2016 World Junior Championship, scored the tournament-winning overtime goal for Finland in Helsinki.
Last May, Kapanen tallied the tying goal late in Game 7 to help the Marlies get past Albany in the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs and he did the same for the Leafs last Saturday, scoring his first NHL goal in the third period of their playoff-clinching win over Pittsburgh.
James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring late in the first to give Toronto the lead, Washington responded and took over the game in the middle frame with a pair of power play goals from Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson and things got worse later in the second, as veteran blueliner Roman Polak left the game after being hit by Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik near the Leafs bench.
Toronto responded within moments of the injury, as the fourth line of Brian Boyle, Matt Martin and Kapanen outhustled the Washington defense and set up the rookie for his first playoff goal and took the lead late in the second on Morgan Rielly’s power play goal.
Washington pressed the attack in the third, outshooting the Leafs 14-8 and tying the game with 7:21 left in regulation on a goal from Niklas Backstrom.
Frederik Andersen was cool as a cucumber making 48 saves on the night and came up big in overtime, stopping Ovechkin on a breakaway after the Caps killed off a penalty to goalie Braden Holtby.
Frederik Andersen robs Alex Ovechkin on the breakaway to keep the game going!
“He makes it easy, he was by far our best player tonight.” defenseman Jake Gardiner said about Andersen after the game. “When the goalie gets hot like that, it makes it easy for us and I think as a whole, we played well. Good team hockey up and down the ice. We battled through it.”
In the wake of Polak’s injury, Babcock relied primarily on four defensemen (Gardiner, Rielly, Hunwick and Marincin) who played over 30 minutes. Gardiner led the Leafs with 40:34 TOI on the night, while Connor Carrick played just 18:44.
Babcock stated following the game that Polak is out for the season, which puts Toronto in a vulnerable position for Game 3 at Air Canada Centre on Monday.
Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev was on the ice prior to the morning skate on Saturday, which is encouraging after not skating for almost a week, but there are no indications that he will be ready to return on Monday. If not, Babcock will likely turn to Alexey Marchenko.
“I'm not 100 percent sure. Either (Zaitsev) or (Marchenko). Obviously, if (Zaitsev) is ready to go, he's going to get the opportunity.” Babcock said after the game. “He skated today, he'll skate tomorrow and if he's ready he'll be in. If he's not, Marchy will go.”
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