Kapanen and fourth line produce two goals, including the double overtime winner
WASHINGTON— The Maple Leafs promised to be better, and delivered.
Kasperi Kapanen scored in the second overtime period Saturday night as Toronto beat Washington 4-3, tying their bestof-seven Stanley Cup playoff openinground series at one game apiece.
The Maple Leafs have a chance to take control against the Presidents’ Trophy champions with Games 3 and 4 Monday and Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre.
It was the second goal of the game for Kapanen, who has developed a reputation for big goals, including a golden goal for Finland at the 2015 world junior championship and a goal for the Leafs against Pittsburgh in the last week of the season that helped the team clinch a playoff berth.
It was the second overtime game in a row for the two teams that have shown a great deal of respect for each other, even as they asked for more from their players in Game 2 than they got in Game 1.
“At this time of year, you’re playing real hockey teams,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
“You don’t want to take anything away from the opposition. At the same time, you know what you’re capable of and you want to maximize your group.”
Capitals coach Barry Trotz said he was not taking anything for granted. “I expect every series to go seven games,” Trotz said.
“That’s how you have to go into it because you’ve got to have that mentality, because however long it takes that’s how long it’s going to take.”
Morgan Rielly, Kapanen and James van Riemsdyk scored the regulation goals for the Maple Leafs.
Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson scored for the Capitals.
The game cost the Leafs defenceman Roman Polak, who twisted his right ankle awkwardly when he fell on it after taking a hit from Brooks Orpik midway through the second period. Polak was beside the Leafs bench when it happened. Normally, he’d try to crawl off so as not to leave his team a man down, but he was in far too much pain and lay there until the whistle was blown.
The injury put a great deal of pressure on the Leafs’ top defencemen, with Babcock relying heavily on Rielly and Jake Gardiner.
If Polak can’t play Game 3 and Nikita Zaitsev is not ready, it’s likely Alexey Marchenko will see his first playoff action.
The Leafs held a 1-0 lead after the first period, and 3-2 after the second, and failed to hold on for the second game in a row. Backstrom got an errant puck to beat Frederik Andersen at 12:39 of the third, the only goal of the period. Gardiner had a chance to get the puck, but looked tired.
Toronto had the first-period lead even though they got off to a sluggish start, failing to register a shot on net through the first 11 minutes.
The Capitals dominated the first half of the period. The Leafs could barely control the puck. And when they did get it, Washington made them pay a physical price. But a power play turned it around. They didn’t score when Evgeni Kuznetsov was sent off for holding, but they got their skating legs going. A few shifts later, Gardiner’s virtuoso performance in the Washington end led to van Riemdyk’s game-opening goal.
Washington stormed back in the second, taking a 2-1 lead, with both goals coming on the power play.
Ovechkin got his first of the playoffs on a feed from T.J. Oshie. Carlson’s shot through traffic with 8:52 gave Washington their first regulation lead of the series.
But moments after the Polak injury, Kapanen scored on a nifty backhand, a goal that withstood a challenge that the play was offside. Rielly then restored the Maple Leafs lead with a wrist shot on a power play in the final minute of the second period. NOTES: Zaitsev, out with a suspected concussion, skated on his own before the morning skate, but did not play. “I saw him out there, I got very excited, they shut me down very fast,” said Babcock.