maple leafs 7, capitals 1.

lose three, and come back and deliver one hell of an ass kickin’. Nicely done!

  • Wins: 10
  • losses: 10
  • shootout wins: 2
  • shootout losses: 1
  • points: 23

. and now, the recap.

Leafs roll over Caps in 7-1 win
Saturday, 11.19.2011 / 10:00 PM
TORONTO — Joffrey Lupul had a goal and three assists to lead a scoring parade as the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Washington Capitals 7-1 Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The Leafs blew the game open with four goals in the second period, including three on the power play, as they handed the Capitals their third consecutive loss.
Jonas Gustafsson stopped 40 shots — 33 in the final two periods — for his first win since Nov. 2.
Toronto led 2-1 entering the second period, but scored 1:18 after the puck was dropped. With Matt Hendricks in the box for slashing, Lupul parked himself at the edge of the crease and set up Tyler Bozak with a nice backhand flip pass. Bozak’s second goal of the season put the Leafs up by 3-1.
The Caps thought they had pulled within one when Mike Knuble jammed the puck past Gustavsson at 4:35, but the referees ruled that the puck was frozen before crossing the goal line. It was one of several goalmouth scrambles generated by the Capitals in the second. Gustavsson stopped 15 shots in the period, including big saves on Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin on a late Washington power play.
Just over a minute after Washington’s non-goal, Toronto’s Phil Kessel scored his League-leading 14th of the season, prompting Washington coach Bruce Boudreau to pull Tomas Vokoun and replace him with Michal Neuvirth. Vokoun allowed four goals on 18 shots in just over 25 minutes.
Toronto made it 5-1 at 17:12 during another power play when Dion Phaneuf sent a pass into the crease to Lupul, who scored his 10th of the season and earned his fourth point of the night. It was the first four-point night for Lupul since Dec. 20, 2008, when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, coincidentally it came against the Capitals. Lupul also matched a career high with three assists.
Cody Franson’s power-play goal at 19:29 capped the outburst. Ex-Capital Dave Steckel added a shorthanded goal in the final minute of regulation.
The victory was extra special for an injury-riddled Leaf team that had lost five of six coming into Saturday. Mike Komisarek (broken arm), Mikhail Grabovski (lower body), Colby Armstrong (ankle sprain), and Matthew Lombardi (upper body) all were out of the lineup, as was starting goaltender James Reimer, who’s been sidelined for four weeks after being hit in the head during a collision with Montreal’s Brian Gionta. Forward Mike Brown also did not suit up.
Due to the injuries, rookie Joe Colborne was called up from the AHL Toronto Marlies. He made an immediate impact by setting up fellow rookie Matt Frattin for his first NHL goal on a lovely cross-ice pass in the Capitals zone at 19:16 of the opening period to break a 1-1 tie.
Tim Connolly opened the scoring at 1:39 of the first period, beating Vokoun with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the left of the Capitals net minder. Brooks Laich tied it less than a minute later by taking a drop pass from Jason Chimera and blasting a shot past Gustafsson.
Ovechkin, who entered the game with 14 goals in 12 career games at the Air Canada Centre, matched his season-high with eight shots on goal but was held without a point.

I’ll take that win, and now go enjoy my coffee and doghnuts.

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