The Maple Leafs had a dreadful month of November – going 3-7-3 – and loss their captain Dion Phaneuf in the process. Entering November, the Leafs sat 18th overall in the NHL standings with a 5-5-2 record. Since dropping 13 of 16 games, the Leafs currently sit 26th in the standings with 24 points in 26 games.
After a 5-0 blowout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on December 2nd, the Leafs have posted back-to-back shootout wins over the Boston Bruins and eastern conference leading Washington Capitals. After being down 4-1 heading into the third period, Toronto rallied back with three unanswered goals to even the game at one.
Mathieu Perreault opened the scoring at 2:55 of the first period by tipping in a shot from Capitals defenseman Tom Poti for his first goal of the season. Clarke MacArthur answered nine minutes later on the powerplay for the Leafs with a quick wrist shot over the shoulder of Michal Neuvirth. Nikolai Kulemin earned the only assist on the play and his seventh assist of the season.
With the game even at 1-1 towards the end of the first period, Mike Knuble put the Capitals ahead with his fifth of the season, from Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Poti. Mike Komisarek fumbled the puck and gave away the puck, which led to the goal. Midway through the second period, Mathieu Perreault scored his second of the game and season, on a Jay Rosehill giveaway, to give the Caps a comfortable lead.
Capitals enforcer D.J. King stood up for teammate Alex Ovechkin by dropping the gloves with Colton Orr, who took a run at Ovie earlier in the period. King and Orr each connected on a few punches, with Orr getting the decision. The following play, Ovechkin snapped a wrister over Jonas Gustavsson for his twelve goal of the season.
It was a familiar sight for the Leafs to be down heading into the third period, but they proved on Saturday against Boston that they are capable of overcoming a deficit.
Mikhail Grabovski one-timed his sixth of the year on a pass from Tomas Kaberle, who has 13 points this season (all assists). Nikolai Kulemin was credited with the secondary assist – his eighth of the season and second of the contest. Grabovski was rewarded for his solid play throughout the game. His 18 points in 26 games pro-rates to 57 points over an 82-game schedule and would result in a career season for him. Toronto’s flurry of goals continued with two markers 59 seconds apart from Tim Brent and Clarke MacArthur, who scored his second of the game and ninth of the season to force overtime. The game remained 4-4 through an exciting overtime to send the game to a shootout.
The Capitals opted to shoot second, hoping that the odds are on their side. Teams have shoot first this season have only a 35.7 winning percentage. Nazem Kadri, Mikhail Grabovski and Phil Kessel were selected as the Leafs shooters, while Alex Ovechkin, Mathieu Perreault and Alexander Semin shot for Washington.
Kadri walked in and fired a wrist shot into the glove of Michael Neuvirth. Ovechkin was also denied by the glove of Jonas Gustavsson. Mikhail Grabovski beat Neuvirth on a sublimely skilled spinorama move that completely faked out the Capitals goaltender. Gustavsson went on to stop Perreault and Semin, giving him a perfect 3-0 record against the Washington shooters. Phil Kessel deked to the backhand, only to be stopped point blank.
The Leafs never gave up after being down by three goals, despite their dominant play through the first two periods. Games like tonight are excellent confidence builders and are uplifting for a team with no identity. If Toronto can play a tight game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, they will have a good chance to pull out another victory, especially if they play like tonight and have Dion Phaneuf back in the lineup. The Penguins have won 10 straight games, so a loss has got to come at some point. Why not Wednesday?
Toronto notched their tenth win of the season and second straight to bolster their record to 10-12-4. Following Wednesday’s game versus the Penguins, Toronto will faceoff against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada.
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