Maple Leafs report cards: ‘Gutsy, gritty effort’ in shootout win over Capitals

If Sunday’s lengthy 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals proved anything, it’s that Ilya Mikheyev’s role as a depth forward is an important one for the Leafs, and we’re all ready for the playoffs to begin now, thank you very much.

We get it. Everyone’s tired, and players are nursing bruises. John Tavares was kept out of the lineup because of load management, and Timothy Liljegren had the night off to get some rest after being banged up over the past two games. The Leafs were on their second night of a back-to-back after a few days of travel and were playing their sixth game in nine days. Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame that he didn’t think the team would’ve gotten to sleep until 4:00 am Sunday morning after a flight from South Florida late on Saturday. And the Leafs looked about as tired as expected by taking their foot off the gas and going through the motions in the third period, which allowed the Capitals the opportunity to score two quick goals in the third period and take a 3-1 lead.

“It seemed like we were playing on fumes for most of the night,” said Keefe. “We were encouraging the guys at 3-1 to not accept their fate, but keep pushing.”

They did indeed keep pushing and thanks to a late tying goal from Jason Spezza, they forced overtime and ended a three-game road trip on a high note.

First star

Ilya Mikheyev

Mikheyev was everywhere against the Capitals.

First, his puck protection along the wall ahead of the Capitals’ first goal left something to be desired. But otherwise, there was a lot of purposeful energy and movement from him after that blunder. He moved the puck well and logged an assist. Mikheyev’s smart body positioning helped draw a second-period penalty. He was always a threat to cut toward the Capitals net with the puck. Mikheyev didn’t look any worse off after he appeared to jam his thumb after a collision with Alex Ovechkin in the second period.

That was never more evident than on his third-period goal, which was a complete solo effort if I’ve ever seen one.

Mikheyev was tied for the team lead with four shots on goal. An encouraging game from a player that is going to be leaned upon in the playoffs.

Second star

Erik Källgren

This might seem like a questionable pick for second star, considering not only was Kallgren beat by an elite shot from T.J. Oshie on the Capitals’ first goal, he also probably should have made a save on the Capitals’ third goal. But he was coming off one of the most humbling nights of his career, having allowed eight goals against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. For the way he recovered, he gets the nod here. On balance, I thought he was settled in his play and made some quick stops and even more saves from in tight. He made 34 saves on 37 shots and looked sharp in his first NHL shootout.

Third star

Jason Spezza

A little rest clearly goes a long way for Spezza. He won five of six faceoffs, his energy deep in the Capitals zone was commendable, and he looked completely in control of the play ahead of what would’ve been his second-period goal before it was called back. Of course, Spezza immediately gave credit to Nick Abruzzese for his cross-ice pass on the would-be goal. I told y’all they should be playing together!

Finally, Spezza’s veteran poise in front of the Capitals net led to his 12th goal of the season and the Leafs tying the game with less than a minute left.

Player reports  B+

William Nylander 

Nylander had some pep in his step and looked intent on hunting down pucks with a little more intensity than you might see from him on most nights. He looked especially dangerous on the shifts he had with Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. The trio’s puck movement was consistently swift.

Auston Matthews

Matthews continued to excel with his defensive play, swatting the puck away from Capitals players at will. He began to look really dominant with the puck in the third period. His playmaking stood out to me and he had two assists. He had four shots on goal.

Morgan Rielly 

Some excellent deft passing close to goal was a highlight of Rielly’s game. He tracked the puck well, picked off Capitals passes and showed a bit of physicality directly in front of Kallgren.

If anyone is going to be sleeping on the Leafs’ flight home from Washington, it’s Rielly. He logged 25:49 TOI, a team high.

B

Pierre Engvall

Engvall showed his speed in the first period by breaking in for the Leafs’ first clear chance on goal. That speed also allowed him to receive defensively and get into the right spots to be available for the puck after turnovers. He had a turnover or two himself, but overall I thought he was effective. He added an assist.

B-

Wayne Simmonds

A noticeable game from Simmonds! He played like a puck hound on multiple shifts. It wasn’t out of the question for Simmonds to both fire a heavy shot on net and follow it up with a heavy hit seconds afterward.

Justin Holl 

Holl’s puck protection in his own zone looks to have come around as of late. He’s playing with more poise with the puck and generally looks to be more calm and confident than he has all season.

Mark Giordano 

A bit of a quiet night for Giordano but he made some smart breakout passes.

Alex Kerfoot 

Kerfoot was one of the few Leafs who matched the Capitals’ pacey start with his own quick-footedness. He didn’t have the most influential game with the puck but he saved his best for last by ending the game with the shootout winner.

Mitch Marner

I thought Marner wasn’t as dangerous with the puck as he was against Florida on Saturday night, for example. But he still logged a primary assist on the Leafs’ first goal.

Carl Dahlstrom

Dahlstrom looked responsible defensively, getting into good spots and using his stick to try and strip pucks whenever possible. He had an assist.

David Kämpf

Perhaps not the most notable game for Kampf, but I liked how he was able to cut inside the middle of the ice a few times with the puck. Kampf was tied for the team lead with four shots on goal. He did a lot of the little things well, and his team-leading 75 percent five-on-five expected goals was evidence of that.

C+

Colin Blackwell

Blackwell drifted in and out of the game a little too much for my liking, but I appreciated how well he pressed the Capitals off the puck.

Kyle Clifford 

I didn’t mind what Clifford brought to this game; a little more of a nose for the net, including four shots on goal, and some physicality around the goal.

Nick Abruzzese

Abruzzese had an incredible opportunity playing with Marner and Matthews. He didn’t exactly grab a hold of it, but I thought he kept his head above water for the most part, especially with his playmaking.

I felt for Abruzzese as he was hunting for his first NHL point. He made a smart cross-ice pass, the kind he made a lot at Harvard, for what would have been it, but the Jason Spezza goal was called back as Abruzzese was offside by inches. Live and learn, right?

C

T.J. Brodie

Brodie looked about as gassed as any other Leaf. And he should be! He continues to log a lot of ice time game after game, late into the season. His passing wasn’t nearly as sharp as it has been, and he just seemed a step slow when defending. He wasn’t completely to blame on the Capitals’ second goal, as he tracked Oshie high out of his position. Though that meant Capitals forward Lars Eller was left alone in front of the Leafs net for their second goal, without any Leaf to cover him.

C-

Ilya Lyubushkin

Lyubushkin has really struggled as of late. An early, sloppy turnover in his own zone nearly led to a clear scoring chance for the Capitals. His passing seems a little less precise, he gets caught out of position at times and he can’t handle forwards that can get inside of him. Lyubushkin was also burned way too easily on the Capitals’ third goal.

His first-period goal that took a deflection was a boon to his game, for sure. As was his ability to block not one but two slap shots from Ovechkin in his office.

But the bad outweighs the good for me. I don’t get a vote in the matter, but if Jake Muzzin is completely healthy for the playoffs, I’d take Lyubushkin out of the lineup. He’s got two more games to make his case, though.

Game Score

Game Score is a metric developed by The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn to quickly measure a player’s performance in a single game.

Final grade: B-

“It wasn’t our best game, we realize that,” said Giordano after the game.

The Capitals ended up outshooting the Leafs 36 to 30 and owning more of the five-on-five possession and expected goals.

“We didn’t play well today, we didn’t manage the puck well today. You could tell, we just weren’t sharp,” said Keefe.

All that said, that the Leafs put in what Keefe called a “gutsy, gritty effort” and got two much-needed points in their fight toward earning home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs is what’s important in the big picture. I originally graded their performance a little lower, but then I remembered how exhausted I feel after covering just two games in Florida and how much more tired they must be.

Where do the Leafs go from here?

The Leafs will have a much-deserved day off on Monday before they return for their second-last game of the season against the Detroit Red Wings. It sounds like there will be more load management somewhere in the lineup.

Tweet of the night

I literally made this exact motion when I found out I got an exit row seat on a flight this morning:

(All stats via Natural Stat Trick)

(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)