Overtime not kind to Ontario teams

Toronto and Ottawa both suffer OT losses

WASHINGTON — Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock uttered the same phrase to each and every staff member at Verizon Center as he strode to the team bus following an overtime loss that put his team on the brink of elimination. “See you in a couple days,” Babcock said. The Leafs fell 2-1 in Game 5 to go down 3-2 in their best-of-seven series with Washington after Justin Williams beat Frederik Andersen five-hole 1:04 into yet another overtime. But that didn’t mean Babcock — or his players — felt like hope was lost with Game 6 back in Toronto on Sunday night.

Quite the opposite given how tight this series continues to be.

All five games, most tellingly, have been decided by a single goal with four of the five finishing in OT. Washington has scored 16 goals overall to 15 for Toronto. The two teams have fired exactly 175 shots each.

“I don’t think we’re hanging our heads on this,” Leafs forward Auston Matthews said.

“We understand that we played a pretty good road game and somehow they just found a way,” added Nazem Kadri, who hurt Alex Ovechkin with a questionable hit, though the Capitals’ captain did return.

This was a much tighter affair than the four that preceded it. Space was limited, the pace slowed down and scoring chances were relatively few in number between two of the highest scoring teams in the NHL during the regular season. Shots were 27-25 at the end of regulation.

Matthews scored for Toronto, his third straight game with a goal. He was pointless in the first two games of the series.

“We believe we still have a chance to win,” Babcock said. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”

BRUINS 3, SENATORS2 (2OT)

OTTAWA — Sean Kuraly scored his second goal of the game in double overtime Friday night as the Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 to stave off elimination.

The Senators lead the Eastern Conference quarter-final series 3-2. Game 6 is Sunday in Boston.

Kuraly scored the winner at 10:19 of the second overtime, stunning the 19,209 on hand at Canadian Tire Centre.

Mark Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Senators, as Craig Anderson made 36 saves.

The Associated Press Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, right, reaches for the puck as Dmitry Orlov of the Washington Capitals defends duringGame5oftheirfirst-roundNHLplayoffseriesonFridayinWashington.TheCapitalswon2-1inovertime.

The Canadian Press Boston Bruins forward Sean Kuraly gets denied by Ottawa Senators netminder Craig Anderson during the first overtime period on Friday in Ottawa.