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The Capitals hosted those dagburn whipper snappers with the rap music and the cartilage the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving up five goals but scoring six in a technical victory – the best kind of victory.
Here’s Tuesday night’s Plus/Minus:
Plus: Four point games from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams are just what the hockey doc ordered!
Minus: Braden Holtby got the ol’ hook between the first and second periods. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
And now, this…
That was fun as heck.
— Japers’ Rink (@JapersRink) January 4, 2017
Ten more notes on the game:
1. Dmitry Orlov and the Capitals got this one off to a bang early, like forgetting you left a fork in the leftovers you’re microwaving. A claptrap slap pass that found its way mini-golf-style off Justin Williams boot also found the back of the net, and a 1-0 lead for the Caps.
1-0 Caps pic.twitter.com/0gKagasD36
— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) January 4, 2017
2. The Maple Leafs struck back like the Empire in the best. Star. Wars. movie. to tie it at 1-1. Nazem Kadri beat a sprawling, twisting Holtbicane on the power play, snapping the Capitals’ penalty killing streak at 29 straight power plays.
3. Halfway through the period, Connor Brown made the Caps pay after John Carlson pinched ineffectually and softly like your preschool playground crush. The Con Man’s goal put the score at 2-1 Toronto.
4. TJ Oshie stopped the bleeding like a handsome ER doctor hockey player, stories about whom you know you would buy in smutty paperback. Justin Williams caught a fine two-line pass, gained the zone, swung back all alone to gain time and found a crashing TJ Oshie. Oshie dinked, dodged, dunked, and waited his way to a gem of a patient goal that tied the game at 2.
Oshie goal pic.twitter.com/EcEG7INSva
— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) January 4, 2017
5. Frederick Gauthier, just somebody that I used to know, then notched his second career NHL goal, and did so against the reigning Vezina winner, to make it 3-2 Leafs after twenty minutes.
6. Speaking of Braden Holtby, after giving up three goals on eleven shots in the first period, the Holtbeast did not answer the bell in the second. Instead, Philipp Grubauer got the call to start the stanza, filling the pipes at the opening puck drop.
7. That actually went pretty well! Until Auston Matthews, unverified space alien starchild, dropped the prettiest assist of the NHL season on the Capitals’ heads like acid rain drops. The Leo Komarov goal gave the Leafs a 4-2 lead heading into the final period.
Auston Matthews just did ’em dirty pic.twitter.com/EFvp3JILAM
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) January 4, 2017
Dirt assist from Matthews. 360. 4-2 Leafs https://t.co/PO3l2b0P72
— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) January 4, 2017
8. Whatever coach Barry Trotz said to the boys in the locker room, it worked. Evgeny Kuznetsov found himself all alone low in the slot and popped the puck high into the back of the net to make it 4-3 Leafs. Then, Russian firebrand defenseman Dmitry Orlov piledrived a one-time blaster from the top of the circle, tying the game at four. Then, rookie phenom Mitch Marner got loose on a breakaway and made the Caps pay, snatching back a 5-4 lead. But then American hero John Carlson put back a loose rebound through sheer force of will, forcing overtime in DC.
9. Come on, did you think this game was going to make it to a shootout? Just seconds into the free hockey period, Alex Ovechkin, your Captain and mine, sent the good guys home with two points, courtesy of a patented Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot.
10. Multi-point games from Kuznetsov, Williams, Ovechkin, et al., et al. is good news, nyet?
Can we play the Leafs every night? Pretty please?
Game highlights: