CHIN UP, TORONTO — THIS IS A SERIES
Leafs blow 2-0 lead in disappointing Game 1, but show they can play with the big boys
WASHINGTON— OK, so the Toronto Maple Leafs can play with the Washington Capitals, the mighty Capitals. No, they don’t have enough margin for error that would allow their goalie to make two mistakes instead of just one, and no, they didn’t quite have enough to win Game 1 of this first-round series.
But the Leafs were the biggest underdog in the NHL playoffs and with nine guys making their playoff debut this was not a mismatch. This was a damned hockey game. But after a 3-2 loss in overtime of Game 1, here’s the next step: It’s going to get harder.
“The first period we certainly showed that we can play with them,” said Leafs defenceman Matt Hunwick. “I think it erases any doubts, if the kids had it. For the most part we know we’re a good team. Now I think they know it, and hopefully it’ll be a long series.”
For that to happen, though, the Leafs are going to have to go up a notch be- cause the Capitals intend to.
Toronto jumped into this game, scoring on a Mitch Marner dive 95 seconds into the game and again midway through the first period at the end of a long pressing shift when Jake Gardiner wheeled backward and found a hole in Braden Holtby. It was 2-0, and if you wanted to make the Capitals worry that it could all happen to them again, that was a good way to start.
But Washington settled and got a goal at the tail end of a 5-on-3 when Nicklas Backstrom’s stick broke in just the right way to start a scoring play and tied the game when Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen lost a shot in his feet and Justin Williams scored his second goal of the night. Martin Marincin, playing for the injured Nikita Zaitsev, couldn’t clear a puck that Toronto boy Tom Wilson gloved and fired, 5:15 into overtime, making it 3-2, and the Leafs missed a chance.
“It’s hard to say what was up there,” said Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin, who was held to one shot on goal. “Maybe we was a little bit nervous, maybe kind of feel the pressure a little bit.”
“To me, it’s a really good wake-up call for us,” said Washington coach Barry Trotz, who said he thought his team could go to another level.
The credit to the Leafs is that the Capitals will need it.
The Capitals outshot the Leafs 19-9 in the third period and overtime, and though Marner had a chance with 11:40 left, and all it took was one shot, there was a gap between these teams as the game went on.
Auston Matthews was held to a single shot on goal, and William Nylander got four shots in the first and none after that. The Leafs proved to themselves that they can play with the best team in the league. But now the other guys know, too.
“I think they thought it was fun,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “I kept trying to tell them — we’ve got good players, we’re allowed to play at a high level. We’ve got some really good players. Play. If you’re Matty or you’re Mitch or you’re Willie or you’re (Connor Brown) or those guys, you can play. You don’t have to watch ‘em. You can play good.”
“I just think we didn’t come with any nerves,” said Marner.
“That was important for us. It’s just come in here and act like it’s another hockey game, and I think that’s what we did. That was important for us.”
The trick will be doing it again, without any element of surprise. Andersen was terrific all night, and he flashed the glove over and over. The Leafs contained Ovechkin, and didn’t let Backstrom do too much.
But they didn’t win, and that let the Capitals off the hook. Instead of spending Friday wondering what would happen if they went down 2-0, Washington gets to tell themselves the worst is over, for now. Before the game, former Capitals defenceman Connor Carrick was asked about Washington’s playoff failures, and he said, without bravado, “You’d have to ask them how they sleep at night, how they handle those things and those issues. I know as a pro athlete if you play in a rink and you play really bad, the next time you go to that rink it’s on your mind. Every player’s got their demons, and organizationally certain things affect different groups differently, and I know they’ve tried to make the needed changes, but it’s something that’s part of their past no matter what. It’s happened.”
But the demons only come out if you push hard, and the Leafs were one goal short.
“The big thing is we have to get a game here to keep it tight, so they stay tight,” said Babcock. “They get too loose, it’ll make it too easy for ‘em.”
After the morning skate Leafs centre Brian Boyle was talking about Matthews, and marvelling at how the kid was giving a second and third effort on a power-play-penalty kill drill, outworking the vet. A second and third effort, as habit.
Well the second effort has to come next. The Leafs were impressive: just not impressive enough.
The Leafs showed that this is a playoff series, until it isn’t.
The Leafs have a chance to make this thing tight.
Game 2 is Saturday night.