Johansson ends Leafs’ season in OT
WASHINGTON 2, TORONTO 1
A historic Toronto Maple Leafs season has come to an end.
Marcus Johansson stuffed his second goal of the game past Frederik Andersen six and a half minutes into overtime as the Washington Capitals edged the Leafs, 2-1, in Game 6 of their National Hockey League playoff series Sunday — winning the series 4-2 with five of the six games decided in extra time.
Johansson pulled Washington even at 1-1 with less than eight minutes to go in the third period after Auston Matthews broke a scoreless tie with his fourth goal of the series for Toronto.
Andersen was sharp with 34 saves, equalled by Holtby, who stopped 37-of-38 for the Caps.
Washington will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round for the second straight spring.
The loss ends a memorable season for the Leafs.
It was all that youth that made for low expectations initially last fall. Even internally, the team was expected only to demonstrate growth after a last-place 2015-16 season, not make the playoffs or push the Presidents’ Trophy winner to six games in the first round.
But youth spurred the Leafs all seasonlong and again in the post-season against the Caps in a series that saw all six games decided by one goal.
Matthews finished with four goals and five points, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly and 19-year-old Mitch Marner all added four points apiece.
“When you look at where we’ve come from — last year to this year — I think there’s a lot to take pride in,” Rielly said before Game 6. The Leafs had 10 players make their NHL playoff debuts against Washington. The Caps, by contrast, had only a single player who was appearing in his first post-season: depth winger Brett Connolly.
Many members of the Leafs were facing elimination in an NHL post-season for the first time and it looked that way during a nervous first few shifts. But they eventually stabilized and generated the best chances in an opening period where few existed.
The Leafs outshot the Caps 14-11 in the second (and 38-36 overall), but the scariest chances came from the visitors by the end of a scoreless 40 minutes.
Toronto went stretches without testing Holtby until Rielly dumped a puck into the right corner. Instead of wheeling around the boards, the puck bounced awkwardly into the slot where it was chased down by Matthews. The 19-year-old made no mistake, roofing a shot into the top right corner for the 1-0 lead. Johansson tied it about five minutes after the Matthews goal, the sequence starting with a Martin Marincin pass that went astray in the neutral zone. The puck found the Caps winger, who fought off Kasperi Kapanen to beat Andersen short-side.