Capitals falter late lead to the Maple Leafs

Things wen't good for the Washington Capitals, until it didn't

John Carlson, Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
John Carlson, Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Washington Capitals had a 3-1 lead late in the third period but couldn't hang on. They would falter to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime.

Taylor Raddysh gave the Capitals the lead at 11:12 of the opening period with his third goal of the season. Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois assisted there.

Bobby McMann would tie it at 12:11. At 18:33 the Caps took the lead on a goal from Dylan Strome. Aliaksei Protas and Matt Roy assisted there. 2-1 was the score after one and for Strome it was his fifth goal of the season. The Caps led in shots 11-5 after the opening 20.

In the second period Aliaksei Protas made it 3-1 at 17:48, finishing off a tic tac toe sequence from Rasmus Sandin and Alex Ovechkin for his sixth goal of the season. The Caps were outhsot 9-6 in the middle but still had the 3-1 cushion.

In the third period William Nylander made it a one goal gme at 15:51. Mitch Marner would tie it on a power play goal at 19:12. In overtime John Tavares would win it at 4:13.

In the third the Caps were outhsot 17-7 while in overtime the shots were tied at 3 while shots on goal overall were 34-27 in favor of the Maple Leafs. Logan Thompson made 30 saves for a .882 save percentage. On the other side, Joseph Woll made 24 saves for an .889 save percentage.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was simply not happy after the loss. He said to the media after the game per Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network:

"The second half of the game I thought, yeah, not good at all. Embarrassing, for that matter. The way the game played out, just embarrassing. Flat out unrecognizable from our team. "
Spencer Carbery

Dylan Strome added, "When you sit back too much, that's what happens. We were obviously feeling pretty good up 3-1... (but) we didn't do enough in the third. Good teams like that, when you're in your own zone the whole period, they're going to make you pay."

"The third period was unacceptable overall...,"said Aliaksei Protas. "We started to make some unacceptable plays we don't usually make and it started to fall apart. We had the chances to close this game out and we didn't. It's on us."

The Capitals are next in action this Friday night at the Colorado Avalanche with a 9 p.m. puck drop on the east coast. You can catch it on TV on Monumntal Sports Network 2.

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