The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a harsh 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals on Thursday at Capital One Arena. Following the shutout, head coach Craig Berube didn't hold back. When asked after the game what made Washington so challenging tonight, Berube had a one-word answer: “Ourselves” (h/t David Alter of The Hockey News).
Toronto's power play, which used to strike fear into opponents, couldn’t get anything going, finishing 0-for-5. In their first 33 games this season, the Maple Leafs man advantage sits at just 14.1%, showing a clear downturn for a unit featuring Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and Morgan Rielly. The line of Matthews, Nylander, and Knies was outshot 7-0 in just over seven minutes at five-on-five. Overall, Toronto controlled just 40% of shot attempts and 38% of expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Berube even briefly rotated his top personnel out of power-play situations, giving secondary players like Max Domi, Easton Cowan, Nicholas Roy, and Bobby McMann more ice time. While the second unit was more effective at generating chances, the scoring just didn’t come.
Nylander, who has no goals and four assists in his last eight contests, was unable to pinpoint a reason for the team’s lack of urgency. Meanwhile, Tavares, who’s managed just one point in his last seven games, stressed that the team isn’t far from where it wants to be, a point that may ring hollow for fans witnessing consecutive underwhelming performances.
It was the defensemen leading the charge for the Capitals, responsible for three of the four goals. Aliaksei Protas opened the scoring at 13:53 of the first period, assisted by Justin Sourdif. Jakob Chychrun followed with a pair of goals, one in the first period and another early in the third, adding to his league-leading defenseman total, now at 14 this season. John Carlson closed out the scoring at 8:57 of the third period, recording a goal along with two assists for Washington. Logan Thompson stopped all 22 shots he faced for his second shutout in four games, while Toronto goalie Dennis Hildeby made 23 saves.
With the win, Washington improved to 19-11-4, second in the Metropolitan Division with 42 points, ending a three-game slump ahead of a weekend home-and-home with the Detroit Red Wings.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs now sit at 15-13-5, seventh in the Atlantic Division with 35 points, only four back of the final wild-card spot and just one point above the last-place teams in the East. They’ll look to regroup as their three-game road trip continues, facing the Nashville Predators on Saturday and the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
