Capitals beat Maple Leafs 5-4, tie series at 2 games apiece

Wilson's effort changed the game from perhaps being tied at two to a 3-1 lead for Washington.

The Capitals knew that coming in, may have lost their way in three overtime games, and then showed themselves to be more dominant Wednesday night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going for a sweep in their run toward a hopeful repeat championship when they take the ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets for Game 4 on Tuesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are halfway to an unlikely first round win in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs after an even more unlikely game three win over the President's Trophy-winning Washington Capitals.

Bozak comes up big in OTThe Toronto Maple Leafs pile on after Tyler Bozak's game-winning goal.

Oshie put the visitors up 1-0 at 2:58, easily beating Andersen with neither of the Leafs' defence pair on the ice - Nikita Zaitsev and Jake Gardiner - anywhere near him.

We're now fully into nail-biting territory in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with another batch of Game 4s-which means some potentially series-deciding contests-on the schedule. The Capitals' top line scored again on its next shift, as Alex Ovechkin rocketed a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Andersen at 4:49.

Braden Holtby made 30 saves at the other end as the favoured Caps regained momentum with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 5 on Friday night. It was Washington that won the majority of battles and races, those in white sweaters often hogging the puck for long stints in the Toronto zone. While they went back and forth, Komarov decided he'd had enough of KHL buddy Ovechkin throwing his weight around, giving him a jolt and a few whacks for good measure.

Wouldn't you know: When the Caps faced that steep deficit in personnel, they stopped the Leafs.

Just Monday, all four games went to OT for only the third time in National Hockey League history and first time since 1985, including the Blackhawks and Capitals blowing two-goal leads to sow more seeds of doubt and give the Predators and Maple Leafs a jolt of confidence. The Leafs threw everything at the Caps over the next minute, only to take a too-many-men penalty.

Gaining some steam from that bit of special teams superiority, the Leafs pulled back within one when Kadri fired through traffic from the point to beat Holtby with 4:47 left in the middle period.

The Leafs are using their speed to give Washington fits, the young-and-hungry eighth-seeded underdogs playing loose.

Hyman chased down the loose puck that led to Nylander's first of the postseason and then drew the penalty that led to Bozak's game-winner. The goal was scored during a Leafs power play and came at 5:39. Toronto opened the third period with a 5-on-3 power play and couldn't convert. In a tied series, the Leafs are in suddenly in survival mode.

Five Leafs have scored their first playoff goal so far in this series with Auston Matthews and William Nylander connecting on Monday.

Ryan got free in the zone, tapping it in on assists by Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson. Craig Anderson finished with 17 saves.

It wasn't always pretty, but in one night, the Caps went from feeling the weight of the choker label to a series split and a best-of-three, with two games at D.C.'s Verizon Center if necessary. In their first series since 1951 to open with three overtimes - anyone heard of Bill Barilko? - the victor came from Tyler Bozak at 1:37 with Lars Eller in the box, the second penalty drawn by rookie Zach Hyman, one of seven rookies in the lineup.

Wilson also scored the overtime victor in Game 1. Game 4 is Wednesday at St. Louis. That set up a rush down the right wing by Eller, who circled behind the goal, and Wilson tipped it in t 13:41.

And that was just the first period.

Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner will miss Game 4.

The Senators outshot the Bruins 10-3 in the first, taking advantage of several defensive breakdowns on their side of the ice. Burakovsky passed it off to Wilson who buried the goal. Hoffman controlled the puck and easily tapped it by Rask into the right corner of the net.

Boston pulled Rask with nearly 2 minutes left and managed a couple of scoring chances - both from Brad Marchand - but Anderson turned them away. The Caps also tightened up their gap coverage, preventing many Leafs passing plays in transition that had been successful in the opening three games.