by: Randy "Rock" Johnson
JohnWaltonHockey.com
It was a wild and wacky scene that provided the end of the Washington Capitals 3-2 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night at Air Canada Center in Toronto.
The craziness began in the game’s final minute. Trailing 2-1with goalie Jose Theodore on the bench for the extra attacker, the Caps were looking for the game tying goal. Alexander Semin stormed out from behind the net and tried a wrap-around shot from Toronto goalie Martin Gerber’s left side. Gerber made the save and appeared to have the puck underneath, him. In the ensuing scramble, both Gerber and the puck ended up in the net. A goal was signaled by the referee, much to chagrin of Gerber. To be honest, he may have had a beef, as replays showed that Gerber and puck may have been pushed into the net by Caps’ forward Brooks Laich, who was officially credited with the game-tying goal at 19:03.
The story then took another bizarre turn. Gerber, in an apparent, not to mention somewhat understandable, fit of anger, shoved referee Mike Leggo while expressing his displeasure with the goal call. That would be a big no-no. Gerber received a game misconduct for his actions, which brought a new party into the story.
Enter Leafs’ backup goalie Curtis Joseph. “Cujo” ends up being the hero, stopping a bullet one-timer from the stick of Alex Ovechkin in the waning seconds of regulation, eight Capitals’ shots in overtime, and all three Caps he faced in the shootout to preserve the victory for the Leafs.
The Leafs opened the scoring at 9:04 of the second period on a knuckleball shot from defenseman Phil Oreskovic that would have made Phil Niekro proud. Oreskovic’s shot floated in from the right point, hit Caps’ defenseman John Erskine in the leg, and eluded goalie Jose Theodore to put Toronto up 1-0.
The Caps tied the game at 1-1 with just twenty-one seconds to go in the second period on a power-play goal by Ovechkin, who took a pass from Nicklas Backstrom, skated in from the right side, blew by Toronto rookie defenseman Luke Schenn, and buried a shot past Gerber. It was Overhkin’s fifty-first goal of the season, and considering all of the heat he’s taken for the hands-warming-over-his-stick routine he did after scoring his fiftieth, he gave the hockey world perhaps the most subdued goal-scoring celebration of his career.
The Leafs made it 2-1 on the power-play with just 2:08 remaining in the third period. With John Erskine in the box for hooking, Pavel Kubina took a pass from Jason Blake and beat Theodore from the right point. That set up the game’s exciting conclusion.
Theodore played well in net, stopping twenty-seven of the twenty-nine shots on goal he faced.
With the one point they picked up for last night’s shootout loss, the Caps are now tied with the New Jersey Devils for second place in the Eastern Conference, with the Devils having played two less games. The Caps also need just two points to clinch a playoff spot, and four points to clinch the Southeast Division title for the second straight season. It would be the first back-to-back set of division titles for the Caps since they did the same in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.
The rotating of defenseman in-and-out of the lineup continued last night for the Caps as head coach Bruce Boudreau reinserted Milan Jurcina into the lineup after a one-game absence. It was Brian Pothier’s turn to watch the game from the press box.
M.A.S.H. LIST---Quintin Laing (spleen) out for season; Chris Clark (wrist) indefinite; Brent Johnson (hip) still listed as 6-8 weeks; Boyd Gordon (broken finger) 2-3 weeks; Donald Brashear (knee) day-to-day.
WHAT’S ON ‘CAP’---Friday, VS Tampa Bay; Wednesday 4/1, VS NY Islanders; Friday 4/3, VS Buffalo.
Until next time… |
