Washington blows two-goal lead in the final 4:09 of regulation Wednesday night at Capital One Arena, continuing its losing streak vs. Toronto.
In three tries last season, the Washington Capitals couldn’t beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. They didn’t even come close.
Washington lost the three meetings by a combined score of 16-5, much to the displeasure of Coach Spencer Carbery, who was an assistant in Toronto for two years before he came to Washington. While Carbery has fond memories of his time behind the bench in Ontario, getting blown out three times by his former employer stung.
Carbery’s Capitals found another painful path to defeat Wednesday night at Capital One Arena, blowing a two-goal lead in the final 4:09 of regulation before falling, 4-3, in overtime when John Tavares broke in on Logan Thompson and scored the winner with 47 seconds remaining.
Thompson, who lost for the first time in his Capitals career, made 30 saves on 34 shots. Joseph Woll stopped 24 of 27 shots for Toronto.
“Second half of the game, I thought, not good at all,” Carbery said. “Embarrassing, for that matter, the way that that game played out. Just embarrassing, flat-out. That’s unrecognizable from our team. Playing a team on a back-to-back, third period, the way that that looked. The two-goal lead. Embarrassing on home ice.”
Taylor Raddysh gave the Capitals (10-4-1) the lead midway through the first period with a centering pass that banked off Maple Leafs forward Max Domi and into the net. Domi has yet to score his first goal of the year for Toronto (10-6-2), but he helped Washington get on the scoresheet Wednesday.
Just 59 seconds later, Toronto’s Bobby McMann tied it by beating Thompson through the five-hole. Thompson slid to his right, tracking Tavares as he brought the puck up the ice, and Tavares made a no-look pass to McMann that sent Thompson scrambling to get back across the net. He couldn’t get to McMann in time, and McMann found some daylight to slide the puck through.
In last year’s season series between the teams, that would have been the end of the night for the Capitals. They had some bright moments against Toronto in those meetings, but the Maple Leafs quickly snuffed them out and took over.
This time, Washington stayed in the game. A long shift in the offensive zone late in the first period, sparked by Aliaksei Protas’s committed forecheck that prevented Toronto from getting a clean breakout, led to Dylan Strome’s go-ahead goal. From behind the net, Protas found Strome in the low slot, and Strome did the rest, dangling around Woll to tuck the puck inside the post.
In the second period, the Capitals looked to have grown their lead to two goals with a blast from the point by defenseman John Carlson, but after a challenge by the Maple Leafs, the goal was overturned for goaltender interference on center Nic Dowd.
Late in the frame, though, Protas scored his sixth goal to give Washington a real 3-1 lead. Protas looked for captain Alex Ovechkin on a two-on-one, but Ovechkin’s shot was blocked at the net front by Chris Tanev. Defenseman Rasmus Sandin, who was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the first round in 2018, picked up the puck and sent it back — through Tanev’s legs — to Protas across the zone with a wide-open net.
“From the start, we were good. We started to make some unacceptable plays we usually don’t make, and it started to fall apart,” Protas said. “We had the chances to close this game out, and we didn’t. For sure it’s on us.”
Toronto, after a strong push to open the final frame, appeared to get within a goal when Steven Lorentz put a puck past Thompson midway through the third period, but after a lengthy review, the goal was disallowed because Lorentz “propelled” it into the net with his leg.
Much like the goal from Protas to put Washington up 3-1 after Carlson’s disallowed goal, though, the Maple Leafs pulled within one with 4:09 remaining when William Nylander jumped on a loose puck behind Thompson in the crease.
Less than a minute later, Matthew Knies thought he had tied the score with a deflection on a point shot from Morgan Rielly. The goal was initially disallowed for being put in with a high stick, and the call was confirmed after yet another review.
The Maple Leafs’ push continued in the final minutes. The Capitals had several looks at the empty net but overpassed the puck, trying to be unselfish and hand the empty-netter to a teammate; Dowd crosschecked Knies to hand Toronto a power play with 52.8 seconds remaining.
The Maple Leafs needed just five seconds to tie the score. Mitch Marner fired a one-timer from the left circle — doing his best impression of Ovechkin in his office — that easily beat Thompson and sent the game to overtime.
Toronto won the faceoff to begin overtime and maintained possession for the first three minutes. Strome forced a turnover and the Capitals brought the puck up the ice, but Ovechkin’s shot from the high slot was stopped by Woll.
Nylander won the ensuing faceoff against Dowd, giving the Maple Leafs possession again. On a rush back up the ice, Carlson hit the crossbar and Washington got another offensive-zone draw.
Strome won this one, but after a turnover at the top of the zone, Tavares went the other way and scored the winner.
“It started before the third period,” Sandin said. “They were putting too much pressure on us and we didn’t handle the puck very well, I thought. Didn’t break the puck out very well. It wasn’t great from, I’d say, second period or half the second period or whatever it was. Then some things at the end there. That’s what it is.
“We just need to do a better job this game. We can’t play with our heads too high for the record it’s been. It’s been a short season. It’s 67 games left, so we need to keep playing good hockey and be way better than this.”
Eller’s ‘best possible scenario’
Lars Eller never sold his house in the D.C. area after being traded to the Colorado Avalanche in March 2023. Max Pacioretty lived there last year, but it was empty this season — so Eller was able to go home again, as if he never left, when he arrived in Washington on Wednesday. He didn’t see the trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins coming, but the 35-year-old made it clear he’s happy to be back.
“I’ve been traded a few times, and I don’t think you ever quite get used to it,” Eller said. “It’s an odd feeling, leaving teammates and a place where I really enjoyed, really loved playing. That’s hard. It’s difficult but I could not, at the same time, imagine a better place coming than here. Now that I have to move, it’s the best possible scenario.”
With Eller and winger Jakub Vrana, who signed a one-year deal after coming to training camp on a tryout agreement, back in the fold, the Capitals have five members of their 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team on the roster. Eller scored the Cup-winning goal in Game 5.
Eller is expected to be in the lineup for the Capitals on Friday in Denver. He’ll probably center the third line, slotting in alongside Vrana, with whom he played on numerous occasions the first time around.
“It certainly is the closest thing to home for me in the NHL,” Eller said. “It’s where I played the most, the longest in my career. … It’s just all smiles and good vibes and excitement. You can tell they’re glad to have me back, and the feeling is mutual.”
