Leafs Top Caps Late, 5-3

Rasmus Sandin's 4-on-4 goal with 3:23 left in the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and helped lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-3 win on Monday night at Capital One Arena. The loss extends Washington's home ice losing streak to six straight, all in regulation. It's the Caps' longest home losing streak since they moved to downtown D.C. nearly a quarter of a century ago.

"There's frustration," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I think you're probably angry more than anything else. It's our building and we're not getting it done. And so it's got to be better."
The last time the Caps lost six straight home games in regulation, they were getting their mail in Landover, Maryland and they had yet to play in their first Stanley Cup playoff game. From Oct. 14-Nov. 11, 1981, the Caps lost seven straight home games, all in regulation.
As has been the case far too often of late, the Caps fell down early in Monday's game. Mitch Marner got into the right-wing corner on the forecheck and threw a perfect feed to the front for Michael Bunting, who had a clean shot from the slot. He didn't miss, giving the Leafs a 1-0 lead at 2:35 of the first period.
From an offensive standpoint, the first period was a good one for Washington. The Caps put together some lengthy shifts in the Toronto end, they brought pucks and bodies to the net, they generated good chances and looks, and were buzzing and posing problems for the Toronto defense.
Just ahead of the six-minute mark, it appeared as though the Caps might have tied the game. Garnet Hathaway deflected John Carlson's point shot through Toronto netminder Petr Mrazek, and the puck stood on its edge and appeared to have possibly wobbled its way over the goal line. A brief video review convinced the officials otherwise and the teams played on.
Late in the frame, the Caps did manage to even the game on another of those sustained offensive zone shifts. With the constant movement in the offensive zone, Nicklas Backstrom found himself at center point, where he drilled a shot toward the net. Conor Sheary deflected it past Mrazek to make it a 1-1 contest at 16:23.
The final two minutes of the first frame proved to be back-breaking for the Capitals.
Toronto put together a strong cycling shift in the Washington end in the penultimate minute of the period, a shift that culminated with a John Tavares feed to the front for William Nylander, who - like Bunting earlier in the period - had more time and space than an opposing player should have in that area of the ice. From in tight, Nylander beat Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov on the short side to put Toronto back on top 2-1 at 18:49 of the first.
The Leafs weren't done either. They stung the Caps with a Justin Holl goal on a goalmouth scramble with 1.6 seconds left, sending Washington to the first intermission looking up at a multi-goal deficit for the third time in the Caps' last three home games.
"We probably need to start a little bit better on home ice," says Caps winger Tom Wilson. "They're a fast team, so it's easier said than done sometimes. They come with a lot of speed and a lot of skill. Our game, we realized how to kind of tilt the ice and they didn't get much [after the first]. But when you play a team like that, you give them a little bit of space and they're going to make plays."
Out with an upper body injury for the last four weeks and back from a one-game conditioning stint with AHL Hershey on Sunday, Vitek Vanecek came on in relief of Samsonov at the outset of the second after the latter yielded three goals on 10 shots in his 20 minutes on the clock.
In the second, the Caps started the process of clawing their way back into the contest. Midway through the middle period, they pulled to within one of the Leafs with a power-play goal when Wilson redirected an Alex Ovechkin shot/pass from the left dot past Mrazek at 10:11, making it a 3-2 game.
Early in the third, Evgeny Kuznetsov was boxed for an offensive-zone hooking call, putting the Caps up against Toronto's top ranked power play unit for the third time on the night. Not only did the Caps kill off the penalty, they struck while shorthanded to even the game.
Ten seconds after Lars Eller won a draw in the defensive zone, Wilson netted his second of the night, beating Mrazek off the rush from the left circle at 1:44 of the third period.
With the game all even at 3-3, it turned into a battle. Washington had to kill off another penalty in the front half of the third to keep the Leafs from re-taking the lead, and the physicality ratcheted up on both sides in the back half of the frame. With just under five minutes remaining, matching minors to the Caps' Trevor van Riemsdyk and Toronto's Wayne Simmonds left the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey.
The Leafs again had the Caps chasing them and the puck around the Washington end. Seconds after Tavares hit the post, he feathered yet another feed to the front from behind the Caps' cage, this one to Holl in the right circle. The Toronto blueliner pump-faked before issuing a cross-ice feed to partner Sandin, whose shot beat a sprawling Vanecek to put the Leafs back on top, 4-3.
"I was just happy to get that goal, happy to get the win," says Sandin. "It was a terrific play by Hollsy and it was nice to see that go in."
An empty-netter from Leafs forward Pierre Engvall with 1:01 remaining accounted for the 5-3 final, sending Toronto home with a sweep of its two-game road trip.
"I liked the game., I thought we were good in a lot of areas, except the power play," says Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. "Otherwise, I thought our guys did a good job."