First Period

The narrative is the Leafs never score first and the Caps never have a lead. The Caps think they've cracked it with this power play goal (on a fairly cheesy call on David Kämpf):

The goal is called back for goalie interference.

Toronto gets a makeup call on top of that goal reversal because the situation room is in Toronto, and the Leafs have infiltrated it with covert ops. Not a whole lot goes down on the Leafs PP.

The Leafs get another PP on a puck over glass situation and that fellow who's been dumped onto the second unit gets the goal.

1-0 Leafs

The power play still looks... unfocused and messy to me. And I will never care how many goals are scored by defencemen.

Toronto takes one of their classic period-ending penalties and Pontus Holmberg gets done for holding. The Mitch Marner show is a good one and the Leafs waste a lot of time playing keep away.

The second will start with a few seconds of power play left.

Charts and Graphs

Second Period

Gio gets called for this hook:

But Woll stops the penalty shot:

Mo!

2-0 Leafs

3-0 Leafs

Once the Leafs have this excellent lead, they start to play well. Because hockey.

Toronto gets a power play when Tom Wilson mouths off about an uncalled trip.

And just to make Wilson feel really angry, Auston Matthews show him what a goal looks like.

4-0 Leafs

The SOG are currently 12-22 Leafs - Caps.

The Leafs take another penalty – the 20th or so in this game – and the Capitals get another try to score. Oh, hey, it's just under two minutes in the period, and the Leafs are in the box, that's unusual.

Oh yikes. Jake McCabe appears to have been hit in the head with a shot. He just keeps on playing and then goes to the bench on a change.

Capitals score. Alex Ovechkin's first goal of the year.

4-1 Leafs

Massive coverage breakdown. xG of 1 on that one.

Charts and Graphs

Third Period

The Leafs are playing the sort of game where when they gain the zone, you just can't even see the defencemen on TV.

The Capitals are playing the sort of game where they look like they don't even know the word comeback.

(I wish those Edge zone time things were live for games. I really like them, and would like to see it for this game.)

Woll with his first meaningful save of the period at 12:08.

Mike Johnston is talking about Joe Woll being calm, but in a smart way. He's mentioning that Woll on his cross-crease moves does not move outside the post, and one thing I've noticed about Samsonov is how often he's outside the post going way too wide and in front of the crease to follow the play. He's losing skate contact with the posts, and scrambling and out of position as a result. This is fixable.

Thoughts

Washington was snakebit a little at first, but their offence is diffuse and toothless. Toronto is good enough to play like ass for a period where there are more power plays than anyone needs and then win the game in 10 minutes.

Skill wins out most of the time.

Game Coverage