“It’s a work in progress”, Coach Barry Trotz said of the rule in general. “And I felt that coming here would be the best thing for that”. Minutes after Alex Ovechkin’s game-tying goal was washed out due to a questionable goalie interference ruling, Nicklas Backstrom scored literally in the game’s final second to force overtime against the Leafs.
Advertisement
Ovi did, in fact, find the back of the net three times on Saturday, including the disallowed goal and the shootout victor. “I was lucky to be on the same team and same line with him”. “Our goalie gave us every chance”.
Washington found themselves down early and often this week, surrendering the first goal in each contest. Oshie, then Justin Williams and the list goes on. The Leafs called it a lower-body injury and added it was not serious.
The left winger hailing from Moscow, Russian Federation has six points (three goals, three assists) in his last five games. It was Ovechkin’s first power play goal of the year and placed him in a tie with Sergei Fedorov for most goals by a Russian-born player. John Kreiser of NHL.com reminds us that “Fedorov finished his NHL career with the Capitals in 2008-09, and Ovechkin assisted on his 483rd goal”. “But now I feel comfortable and now it’s about playing my game and that’s all I can do”. Then, with under three minutes to play in regulation, Ovechkin thought he had tied the game when he scored on a backhand. He even celebrated with a finger saying No. 1 to the crowd. Alex Ovechkin tied the game at two, but Washington was burned yet again on a coaches challenge, and Toronto retained their one-goal lead. “The first 20 games is a real learning process”. Despite his proven ability, the native of Moscow still gets plenty of chances as he leads the league with 62 shots on goal. It does take a few time.
It won’t get much easier for the Leafs, as they head into Washington to face a strong Capitals team. It’s merely to suggest all involved with the Leafs will have better self-understanding.
“I think we’ve been playing fairly well lately”, Babcock said. Our guys are understanding what’s asked of them. We advised one another that we needed to preserve going and we did.
“Obviously it’s an important game for us”.
“I’m not too anxious about that part”. I ‘m more anxious about the process and the compete and the structure. That’s when the game’s fun. “We just have to continue to get better”.
The Capitals would not be denied two points Saturday night.
The Caps are now 2nd in the Metro with 18 points through 12 games (they have a game in hand on the Penguins, in 3rd) and it definitely could be a tight race to win the division. Who was hot for them this week, and who wasn’t?
Advertisement
“He’s probably the one I chat with the most”, Green said. “The standard is set pretty high here”. He assisted on Henrik Zetterberg’s 300th career goal in Toronto and scored the game-winning goal against Tampa on November 3rd.
