Maple Leafs lose 5-4 to Caps to even series
Senators edge Bruins 1-0 to take 3-1 series lead
The Toronto Maple Leafs got their toughest test yet from the best team in hockey.
Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie both scored twice and Alex Ovechkin notched his third goal of the playoffs as the Washington Capitals evened the bestof-seven first round series at two games apiece, dropping the Leafs 5-4 in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Zach Hyman, James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and Tyler Bozak all scored in defeat for Toronto, which made a late charge, while Frederik Andersen surrendered five goals on 27 shots.
Braden Holtby made 30 saves at the other end as the favoured Caps regained momentum with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 5 on Friday night.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock saw the Oilers get throttled 7-0 by the Sharks on Tuesday night and was wary of such an outcome for his team in Game 4. It was apparent that it might just go that way early with Washington popping for a pair of goals in the first five minutes and four before the opening period was done.
Oshie got the first one for the Caps when he capitalized on a Nate Schmidt point shot sent purposefully wide of the net. Ovechkin added the next one when he was left wide open for a one-time blast on a Washington power play.
The script was familiar to Game 3 when the Leafs also went down 2-0 in the first five minutes, but unlike that game — an overtime victory — the club never did recover. While they pulled back
within one on Hyman’s first career playoff goal 42 seconds after the Ovechkin marker, the Caps struck again for two more in a span of less than three minutes — both by Wilson, a Toronto native.
Senators 1, Bruins 6 BOSTON — Bobby Ryan played the hero again, scoring the winner at 5:49 of the third period as the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 on Wednesday night to grab a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference quarter-final series.
After scoring the winner 5:43 into overtime on Monday to seal the Senators’ 4-3 win in Game 3, Ryan poked the puck past a diving Tuukka Rask after Erik Karlsson set him up on an intentionally wide slap shot just inside the blue line.
It was Ryan’s team-leading
third goal of the series. Karlsson picked up his 20th career playoff assist, tying Martin Havlat for the sixth-most in franchise history.
Craig Anderson made 22 saves in his fourth career playoff shutout for the Sens. Rask stopped 26 shots for the Bruins.
Ottawa won its fifth straight game in Boston and improved to 7-1 versus the Bruins this season. Boston hasn’t won a home playoff game since May 10, 2014.
The Senators can clinch the series at home Friday in Game 5.
Ottawa stifled Boston in the first period for the fourth straight game, but couldn’t score itself despite taking 14 shots. It’s the third time this series that neither team has scored in the opening frame.
Charlie McAvoy appeared to score his first NHL goal after his blue line slapper beat Anderson
at 10:49 of the second, but a Senators’ challenge reversed the ruling as centre Noel Acciari was offsides.
Anderson preserved the shutout to keep the sellout crowd of 17,565 at TD Garden quiet through the second period buzzer. It was an improvement after Boston had scored three second-period goals in consecutive games.
Sens left-winger Tom Pyatt left in the first and didn’t return after suffering an upper-body injury on a hit by Bruins defenceman Kevan Miller at 2:48 of the period.
After getting centre David Krejci back from an upper-body injury in Game 3, the Bruins were bolstered by the return of defenceman Colin Miller. Miller missed Games 2 and 3 after suffering a lower-body injury in the series opener.