After a spotty homestand, the Toronto Maple Leafs hope to pick up where they left off on the road as they visit the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
The Leafs came away with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in their fifth consecutive home game on Tuesday. Auston Matthews and Dakota Joshua scored eight seconds apart to complete the comeback from 2-0 down.
“I think we talked about it after the first (period) a little bit, to get pucks behind and go to work and be on them a little bit more,” said defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who netted Toronto’s first goal halfway through the third period. “I thought we did that a little bit more in the third and not passing up a lot of those chances we had.”
Even so, pressure is mounting on the Maple Leafs, who find themselves on the wrong side of the playoff line with the halfway mark of the season fast approaching. Toronto finished the homestand with a 2-1-2 record. Reporters noted after Tuesday’s game how frequently Toronto coaches and players appeared animated on the bench.
“Oh, it could have been a number of things,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube responded when asked what had provoked a particularly irate reaction in the first period. “I’m not sure exactly which one.”
Toronto can take solace in having won its last three games away from home by a combined score of 16-4. The last team to best the Leafs on the road were none other than the Capitals, who won 4-2 on Nov. 28.
Washington returns home after a tumultuous two-game road stretch in which it was outscored 10-1. The last outing was a 5-0 beating at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, also on Tuesday night. Filip Gustavsson turned away all 25 Capitals shots to hand them their second shutout loss of the season.
“There’s no doubt, the majority of our group right now is struggling to execute and finish,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said after the game. “You can see that for the last couple of games — it’s probably been three or four (games). Usually you go through this — I’ve talked about this before — but it just feels like our whole group is like that right now.”
Washington, which has dropped three straight games, remains in a playoff spot. In the face of adversity, the team remains confident it has the same quality as last season, where the Capitals topped the Eastern Conference with 111 points.
“I think we are at that level,” defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said when asked if the team had learned anything from the humbling road trip. “Obviously, we didn’t show it these last two games, but we’re a team that when we play our best, we’re right up there with the best in the league.”
Toronto’s battered back end hopes to be rejoined by veteran Chris Tanev, who has finally been cleared for regular practice after sustaining an upper-body injury on Nov. 1. The Leafs continue their makeshift goalie tandem of backups Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby with the ongoing absence of Anthony Stolarz (upper-body injury).
–Field Level Media
