The view from left field

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (52-21-7 – 111 Points) at
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (44-23-12 – 100 Points)
SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2022
1 2 3 OT SO FINAL
TORONTO 1 0 2 0 1 (2 – 7) 4
WASHINGTON 1 0 2 0 0 (1 – 7) 3

SCORING NOTES

• Ilya Lyubushkin scored for Toronto at 12:32 of the first period. Lyubushkin recorded his second goal of the season.
• Ilya Mikheyev scored for the Maple Leafs at 12:36 of the third period. Mikheyev recorded his 20th goal of the season. Mikheyev has scored in three of his last four games (3G). Mikheyev also posted the primary assist on Spezza’s goal. Mikheyev recorded his 11th assist of the season.
• Jason Spezza scored for Toronto at 19:02 of the third period. Spezza recorded his 12th goal of the season. Spezza is currently on a three-game point streak where he has posted three points (2G, 1A).
• Mitch Marner posted the primary assist on Lyubushkin’s goal. Marner registered his 62nd assist of the second. Marner has posted a point in back-to-back games (1G, 1A).
• Auston Matthews posted the secondary assist on Lyubushkin’s goal and the secondary assist on Spezza’s goal. Matthews has recorded 46 assists of the season.
• Carl Dahlström recorded the primary assist on Mikheyev’s goal. Dahlström posted his second assist of the season.
• Pierre Engvall registered the secondary assist on Mikheyev’s goal. Engvall posted his 19th assist of the season.
  GOALTENDER NOTES
• Erik Källgren stopped 34 of 37 shots in tonight’s shootout win.
  SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
• The Maple Leafs were 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill tonight.
  OF NOTE…
• With his third period goal tonight, Jason Spezza posted his 500th career NHL point on the road (189G, 311A). Spezza has skated in 634 career road games.
• With his second goal of the season recorded during tonight’s game, Ilya Lyubushkin set a new career-high in goals.
• Mark Giordano recorded a single-game season-high seven hits during tonight’s win.
• At 10:01 of the second period, a video review was initiated by Washington to determine whether or not Jason Spezza’s goal was offside. Video review determined the play was offside and the call on
  the ice was overturned. Result: No Goal Toronto. Explanation: Video review determined that Toronto’s Nicholas Abruzzese preceded the puck into the offensive zone and was in an off-side
  position prior to Jason Spezza’s goal. According to Rule 38.9, “The standard for overturning the call in
  the event of a “GOAL” call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room, after reviewing any and all
  available replays and consulting with the On-Ice Official(s), determines that one or more Players on
  the attacking team preceded the puck into the attacking zone prior to the goal being scored and that,
  as a result, the play should have been stopped for an “Off-Side” infraction; where this standard is
  met, the goal will be disallowed.”
• At 19:00 of the second period, a video review was initiated by Toronto to determine whether or not
  there was a Missed Game Stoppage Event – Hand Pass on the play that led to T.J. Oshie’s goal.
  Video review determined that there was a hand pass on the play and the original call was overturned.
  Result: No Goal Washington. Explanation: The Situation Room determined that John Carlson
  directed the puck to Nicklas Backstrom with a hand pass at 1:12 of the second period (18:48 elapsed
  time) – 12 seconds prior to T.J. Oshie’s goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 79.
• Morgan Rielly was on the ice for a team-high 19 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5.
• David Kämpf finished the game with a team-high 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 58.33 percent
  (14 for, 10 against).
  SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)
  1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL
  TORONTO 7 (7) 9 (8) 12 (8) 2 (0) 30 (23)
  WASHINGTON 13 (10) 8 (7) 12 (10) 3 (0) 36 (27)
  SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)
  1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL
  TORONTO 16 (16) 14 (13) 18 (12) 2 (0) 50 (41)
  WASHINGTON 23 (18) 21 (20) 19 (17) 7 (0) 70 (55)
  ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• The Maple Leafs are 23-13-5 on the road this season.
• Toronto’s all-time record is 66-71-10-5 in 152 games against the Washington Capitals and 27-44-4-3
  in 78 games played in Washington.
• Toronto is 32-12-4 against the Eastern Conference this season and 18-4-2 against the Metropolitan
  Division this season.
  RECORD WHEN…
• Toronto is 18-15-4 when the opponent scores the first goal of the game.
• The Maple Leafs are 18-8-1 when tied after one period and 10-3-3 when tied after two periods.
• Toronto is 19-7-2 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Maple Leafs are 5-2-0 in Sunday games and 7-4-2 in the second game of a back-to-back.
  MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS
  Shots 4 (Matthews, Clifford, Kämpf, Mikheyev)
  Shot Attempts 10 (Matthews)
  Face-off Wins 10 (Matthews)
  Face-off Win Percentage 100% (Nylander – 4 won, 0 lost, Kerfoot – 2 won,
  0 lost, Marner– 2 won, 0 lost, Blackwell – 2 won, 0
  lost)
  Hits 4 (Lyubushkin)
  Blocked Shots 7 (Giordano)
  Takeaways 3 (Rielly)
  TOI 25:49 (Rielly)
  Power Play TOI 3:15 (Matthews)
  Shorthanded TOI 2:58 (Marner)
  Shifts 32 (Marner)
  5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage 58.33% (Kämpf – 14 for, 10 against)
  UPCOMING GAMES:
  April 26 Leafs vs. Detroit Scotiabank Arena 7:00 pm ET
  April 29 Leafs vs. Boston Scotiabank Arena 7:00 pm ET
  Stats reflect official NHL stats at the time of distribution. Please consult official NHL game sheets (links
  above) to confirm no statistical changes were made.
  For Maple Leafs notes, transcripts, audio clips and media guides, please visit MapleLeafs.com/pressbox.
  POSTGAME QUOTES:
  HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE
  On tonight’s game and the team’s comeback:
  “It was a real gutsy effort and real gritty effort for the guys to find a way there. We didn’t have much today
  it seemed like we were playing on fumes most of the night. So we’re encouraging the guys at 3-1 just to
  not accept their fate and keep pushing and start with one, huge goal by Mikheyev gets us going there and
  then the six-on-five comes through.”
  On Källgren’s response tonight following his last game against Tampa Bay:
  “I thought he was great. I thought the guys in front of him did a good job. I thought despite the fact that we
  didn’t play well today, we didn’t manage the puck well today, you could tell we just we’re sharp. I thought
  defensively we did a good job, we didn’t give up a lot of really high quality chances but the ones that we
  did, especially when we had some long shifts in our end, and then of course the shootout he was
  excellent. I love to see it, we talked about it the other night. It gets away on us, and him, in Tampa but you
  saw enough in that first period and that was the focus, to try and build on that and be encouraged by that.
  There are some of the world’s best shooters on this Washington team as well and he stood his ground so
  I’m really excited that the team found a way to get a win for him.”
  MARK GIORDANO
  On the tough schedule leading up to tonight, the last game of the road trip:
  “It definitely wasn’t our best game. We realize that, but I thought we made a huge push there towards the
  end to get it tied and that’s a big win. Finding ways to win like that is really important.”
  On what it says about the team to make a comeback and win the game:
  “I think it says a lot. Especially being on a back-to-back with some pretty tough travel last night too. So to
  be able to gut it out I thought, in the last ten minutes we obviously made a decision to make a push and it
  was huge to get those goals and then push it into overtime and win in a shootout.”
  JASON SPEZZA
  On a gritty win from the team:
  “Yeah for sure, we definitely didn’t have our best tonight, but you’re going to find yourself in those
  situations. The comeback was great it shows we stuck with the game. Huge goal by Mikheyev to give us
  a chance and then six-on-five good to see us execute, something we’ve been working on in practice quite
  a bit and something we’re going to need.”
  On Källgren’s response tonight following his last game against Tampa Bay:
  “Just really proud of him. It was tough to have to keep him in there for all those goals when the game got
  away from us in Tampa but was had to protect Soup and he knew that. I think he handled it really well.
  Huge bounce back game for him. The saves he makes in overtime just to get us to a shootout and then
  against some of the best shooters in the league and he looked real poised and calm. We had lots of
  confidence playing in front of him.”
  ERIK KÄLLGREN
  On tonight’s game:
  “It sure felt a lot better than the Tampa game.”
  On how he reset after the game against Tampa Bay:
  “I don’t know, just try to learn from it. That’s all you can do. I can change the past, so I just try to look at
  the video and learn from some mistakes I made and get better.