Leafs Surprise Capitals With Shootout Win

The Washington Capitals looked a little sluggish and were missing 7 players due to injuries, but you still have to give props to the Toronto Maple Leafs for shutting down the high-flying Caps who could only muster one goal (Alexander Ovechkin scored it of course). That would be Ovechkin's 16th career goal in the 17 games he has played against the Leafs.

After Ovechkin put Washington up 1-0 late in the 1st period past Vesa Toskala, neither team could beat Toskala or Caps netminder Semyon Varlamov, but then maybe Toronto's luck is changing! The Leafs scored their one goal of the game at 16:49 of the 2nd when Jason Blake's shot deflected off a Caps defender, then hit Niklas Hagman in the hip while he was driving to the Caps net and flitted behind Varlamov tying it up 1-1.

Neither team could score in the 3rd or in overtime and surprisingly, the Leafs were the only team who could score when it came to the shootout, with Leafs sniper Phil Kessel and Hagman scoring while Washington's Eric Fehr and Ovechkin were both stopped by Toskala. This was Toronto's 4th win of the season and although they remain last overall in the National Hockey League, they are almost playing .500 hockey, collecting 9 out of 20 points in their last 10 games. The team still sucks though, in my opinion and will be hard pressed to challenge for a playoff spot this year. They remain 9 points back of division rival Montreal Canadiens.

Washington though slipped to a more respectable 13-5-5 record and remain on top of the Eastern Conference. The Capitals head to Ottawa Monday to play the Senators, while the Leafs are off until Wednesday when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida.