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The Toronto Maple Leafs once again followed the same trend of getting off to a quick start, seeing that lead evaporate, and rallying late to win in the second game of their mini two-game road trip, as Rasmus Sandin scored the game-winner with 3:23 left in the third to give the Leafs a 5-3 victory over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Monday.
Michael Bunting, William Nylander, Justin Holl and Pierre Engvall also scored, John Tavares had a pair of assists, and Petr Mrazek calmed the waters between the pipes, with a 30-save effort for his ninth victory of the season, as Toronto moved to within one point of first-place Florida in the Atlantic Division.
“I thought (Mrazek) was really good. We didn’t give up a lot in terms of grade A chances other than the shorthanded chance. (The Capitals) never really got in alone on us on the rush at all which has been a major area of improvement for us as a team,… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I thought on their power play he was really good and a couple big saves on some one-timers, not just Ovechkin but some other guys.…
Toronto jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes on goals from Bunting (his 19th, to lead all NHL rookies), Nylander, and Holl, forcing the Caps to pull goalie Ilya Samsonov in favor of Vitek Vanecek.
I know the leafs won …but can anybody who’s a leaf fan tell me what’s wrong with the following clip? 😡 pic.twitter.com/fpLCm0f2rR
— Bloke Young (@blokeyoung_) March 1, 2022
Tom Wilson erased the lead with a power-play deflection in the middle frame and a shorthanded marker early in the third, and also imposed his physical will later in the period, knocking Tavares to the ice after an offensive chance, and was quickly followed by Garnet Hathaway taking a run at Morgan Rielly.
Moments later, Wayne Simmonds responded against Caps forward TJ Oshie and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, leading to a four-on-four in which Sandin scored the game-winner, but looking at how things went and how the playoffs are played, the Leafs have to consider players providing more pushback as a need before the March 21 trade deadline.
Hathaway with a big hit on Morgan Rielly. #ALLCAPS #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/gDiRyzr47j
— Mr. Tenkrat (@PeterTenkrat) March 1, 2022
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI