The Washington Capitals had no time to take a deep breath and settle back in after a five-game Western Conference trip. After a Tuesday flight back from Calgary, the schedule called for the Capitals to host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night, and the impact of the long road stretch and accompanying travel were painfully clear in a 7-3 loss.
The Maple Leafs played Tuesday in Philadelphia, so they weren't fully fresh, either, but their superior skill and speed led them past a home team that was just trying to keep up. Though the Capitals cut their deficit to one goal on three occasions, they ran out of resistance in the third period.
With three goals in the final 12:02, the Maple Leafs pulled away to end Washington's winning streak at three. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves for the Capitals. Joseph Woll stopped 18 of 21 shots for Toronto.
"Behind the eight-ball from the start, right? We fight back multiple times in that game and get it within striking distance, and then it just felt like we would make that one mistake or just that shift that would kill the momentum of us getting back in that game," Washington Coach Spencer Carbery said. "Happened multiple times. A combination of a bunch of things. Obviously, we had zero answer for [Auston Matthews] tonight in their lineup, so that's an issue. Felt like we made a few mistakes -- uncharacteristic, big, big mistakes -- in big moments."
Matthews put the Maple Leafs ahead just 16 seconds into the game -- his first of two goals and five points on the evening. Washington's fourth line lost a battle along the boards and the puck ended up behind the net, where Max Domi collected it and found Matthews in front for a tap-in finish. But the Capitals quickly found their footing; through 20 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick, they had 15 scoring chances to Toronto's five.
That momentum didn't carry into the second period, though, as William Nylander needed just 56 seconds to make it 2-0. Nylander's goal came seconds after winger Ivan Miroshnichenko couldn't put the puck on net on a two-on-one rush with center Dylan Strome -- a scoring chance that could have tied it. Instead, the Capitals found themselves in a two-goal hole.
"The Nylander goal, that just can't happen," Carbery said. "The first goal against can't happen. Those situations, even though for the most part, I think we did a lot of good things, we just had some isolated instances that were uncharacteristic and just can't happen at this time of year."
Captain Alex Ovechkin scored a vintage one-timer from the left circle on the power play at 9:57, but as would become a theme throughout the game, Toronto needed little time to extend its lead again. Matthews scored his second at 12:59, and though center Connor McMichael quickly halved the deficit again at 13:34, the Maple Leafs were back up by two by the end of the period thanks to a goal from Jake McCabe with just 25 seconds remaining.
"We were just a little off," Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said. "And with a team like them, all they need is a little bit of talent. They've got some high-end talent, high-end finishers, and we knew that going in. We knew how dialed in we needed to be, and we just weren't quite there."
The barrage of goals slowed down to begin the third period, but after Ovechkin scored his second of the night -- and the 845th of his career, leaving him 49 goals from tying Wayne Gretzky's NHL record -- the Maple Leafs firmly pushed the accelerator in the final 13 minutes.
"As soon as we got close to them, they found a way to get another two-goal lead," Ovechkin said. "It's kind of frustrating. We have to learn from that, obviously. Want to make a push, not stop playing and keep going. Didn't push."
Bobby McMann and Tyler Bertuzzi scored 38 seconds apart to blow open what had been a one-goal game, and Toronto remained in firm control from there. Winger Tom Wilson was called for a double minor after drawing blood with a high stick on Noah Gregor at 12:15, and 3:43 into the lengthy penalty kill, John Tavares added the extra point to Toronto's touchdown to make it 7-3.
The unforgiving schedule for Washington continues Friday, with a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes -- and former Capital Evgeny Kuznetsov, who will return to Washington after being traded to Carolina on March 8.
"We obviously weren't good enough and sharp enough," van Riemsdyk said. "This time of year, you can't have efforts like that, but we'll bounce back and we'll be ready to go for the next one."
Note: Wingers T.J. Oshie and Aliaksei Protas missed Wednesday's game and are listed as day-to-day with upper- and lower-body injuries, respectively. After leaving Saturday's morning skate in Vancouver early, Oshie was a game-time decision against the Canucks but played in both that game and Monday's contest in Calgary. Protas was hobbled by a shot late in the game March 9 and missed last week's game in Edmonton but played in the final three games of the road trip.
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