Over in the Washington Capitals room, defenceman Brooks Orpik was asked which of his teammates could give Thornton and Brent Burns a run for their money when it came to beards. The two sides don't have the draw of the Montreal Canadiens-New York New York Rangers scuffle, but they have sure delivered on entertainment. But before Marner could catch up to the pass, Braden Holtby slid out nearly to the blue line to knock it away. "You don't want it to be easy". Toronto seemingly wasn't discouraged when the Capitals had a pair of two-goal leads, as the Leafs eventually tied the game to take it to overtime.
No, I'm not suggesting that the Toronto Maple Leafs should trade Zach Hyman. "That's good for him, a young kid in a big situation like that", Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said of Fiala scoring his second career playoff goal. For a young team, they're pretty deep.
"They all played a lot this year so I'm not very concerned that way".
When Frederik Andersen narrowly stopped Alex Ovechkin on the best chance the Washington Capitals got in the first overtime, Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs dragged long into the night and into a second extra period.
Capitals head coach Barry Trotz put that blame on himself for bad player management, so keep your eyes on Ovechkin in Game 4. He felt it inch a tick higher when Game 2 was had in double overtime behind the second of two goals from another rookie, Kasperi Kapanen.
"We've got to be more prepared", Matthews said. But most of the series, you look around, they're always anywhere from a six to seven game series, a lot of them. It's time to take, for you guys, a little bit pressure off us and let us do our job.
"I'm surprised how much energy they have (the Leafs are headed towards the 90-game mark)".
Washington has now been outscored at even strength in this series, 5-3. Meanwhile, Caps fans were manically texting each other "OMG" and "You see your boy 88 on the ice for that Ovi goal?"
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However, the motion to table the vote failed on party lines. "I'm frankly stunned", Williams told the rest of the panel. According to Williams, there are three Senators now on the Education Committee which are new to this session.
Mike Babcock doesn't think fatigue will be an issue as the series continues.
"You'd like a little more production out of it, no question", Trotz said. "What if someone gets hurt tonight too?" I thought they were quicker today. "A great job by our killers, desperation, obviously, a good job by Holtby".
The Leafs meanwhile are right back in the series thanks to a spectacular game two effort from youngster Kasperi Kapanen who netted two goals including the double OT victor and are now playing back at home in the ACC. Toronto has ridden the play of their youngsters all season long and the playoffs have been no different and with the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and the like being leaned on to carry the bulk of the offense against Alex OVechkin, Nick Backstrom and company it should make for an exciting series that could go much longer than people anticipated coming in.
Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Justin Williams Marcus Johansson-Nicklas Backstrom-T.
Toronto has trailed for fewer than four minutes in the series. It wasn't Orpik's intention to hurt anyone, but an already depleted Maple Leafs defense losing another member favors the Capitals going forward. The Leafs outshot Washington 33-27 in total, but the Capitals are deep and talented, and allowing them as many open looks as they had at Andersen Wednesday is something that has to change.
Chicago versus Nashville looked like it, but the Blackhawks face a daunting task trying to become just the fifth team in National Hockey League history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.
It is the Leafs first home playoff game since May 12, 2013.
"I think we feel comfortable going out there against anybody", Matthews said. In any case, the Buds had to be thoroughly unsatisfied with their effort in the period, and needed to tighten up in their own end if there was to be any shot at getting back into the contest.
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