Ovechkin injured, Capitals lose to Maple Leafs in shootout

WASHINGTON --Alex Ovechkin left with an
upper-body injury
early in the third period of the Washington Capitals' 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

The forward is day to day with an upper-body injury.

After being stopped on a breakaway, Ovechkin tripped on the stick of Toronto goalie Erik Kallgren and crashed into the boards shoulder first. He stayed down briefly, then skated off, went to the locker room and did not return 2:03 into the period.
"I just talked to him and I think he'll be all right," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "It's always scary seeing 'Big 8' go down and lay on the ice. He's a tough guy. If there was anyone I would imagine wouldn't miss any more time than he needs to, it'd be 8."
Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said after the game he hadn't talked to the team trainer yet and Ovechkin was being evaluated.
Toronto trailed 3-1 in the third and was able to force overtime before winning the shootout in seven rounds. Alex Kerfoot scored the deciding goal.
"It was a real gutsy effort for the guys to find a way there," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We didn't have much today. It seemed like we were playing on fumes most of the night. We were encouraging the guys at 3-1 not to except their fate and keep pushing."

Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist, and Kallgren made 33 saves for Toronto (52-21-7), which was coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday and remained five points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. Auston Matthews had two assists.
Kallgren bounced back after allowing eight goals in an 8-1 loss to the Lightning on Thursday.
"He was awesome," Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano said. "I thought he was fighting through a lot of screens and they were putting a lot of pucks to the net. He made some huge, huge saves in regulation and obviously in the shootout and overtime he stood tall."
Oshie, Lars Eller and Marcus Johansson scored for the Capitals (44-23-12), who are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games. Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves. The Capitals moved to within one point of the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"It's tough. It's frustrating. That's a game we can't lose," Laviolette said. "We're doing all the right things and we let it off the hook at the end, so that's on us."
Jason Spezza tied the game 3-3 for the Maple Leafs at 19:02 of the third period when he knocked in a loose puck with Kallgren pulled for the extra skater.

Mikheyev pulled Toronto within 3-2 at 12:36, beating Vanecek from the bottom of the left circle.
"We definitely didn't have our best tonight," Spezza said. "You're going to find yourself in those situations. The comeback is great because we stuck with the game. Huge goal by [Mikheyev] to give us a chance and then 6-on-5, good to see us execute. Something we've been working on in practice."
Oshie gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 5:34 of the first period. Anthony Mantha won a puck battle along the boards and passed to Oshie, who beat Kallgren far side with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Ilya Lyubushkin tied it 1-1 at 12:32 on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle after Vanecek lost his stick.
Eller gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 3:32 of the third period, scoring from near the left post of a pass from Martin Fehervary at the right point.
Johansson increased the lead to 3-1 at 4:04 when he worked a give-and-go with Conor Sheary and slid a backhand shot past Kallgren.
"It's better it happened now than in a week, but it's a frustrating loss," Johansson said.
NOTES: It was the first NHL game with two players with at least 50 goals -- Matthews (58) and Ovechkin (50) -- facing each other since March 21, 2008 when the Capitals and Ovechkin (58 goals) played the Atlanta Thrashers and Ilya Kovalchuk (50). … Each team had a second-period goal overturned after a coach's challenge. Spezza lost a goal when the play was later ruled offside. Ovechkin lost one when it was ruled defenseman John Carlson committed a hand pass prior to the goal. … Toronto was without forward Matt Bunting (undisclosed injury). … The Maple Leafs rested forward John Tavares and defenseman Timothy Liljegren in the second of back-to-back games. … The Capitals reached 100-point mark for the sixth time in the past eight seasons. … Eller has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past eight games.