“Washington” convincingly rehabilitated itself for the disastrous period, achieving a shutout victory over “Toronto”. The Capitals managed to break their losing streak without the effective actions of Alexander Ovechkin, who has not scored for six games in a row.

Ovechkin was close to scoring, but he was terribly unlucky. Twice the Leafs goalkeeper was saved by the post.

Problems in attack

“Washington” before the meeting at home with “Toronto” suffered four defeats in five matches. The Capitals had a very terrible short road series, losing to Winnipeg (1:5) and Minnesota (0:5). One goal in two games was a terrible result, and one that head coach Spencer Carbery responded to quite harshly. Carbery, before the opening face-off at Capital One Arena, noted that he was dissatisfied with the actions of the players in attack.

“We’re not doing enough to be on the right track in many aspects of the game: shooting, time in the attacking zone, creating chances and everything else that usually helps win 80% of games,” Carbery said.

Washington’s problems were not limited to the Jets and the Wild: over the last five games, the Capitals scored only six goals at even strength. As a result, as the official NHL website reported, the capital club went on a three-game losing streak for only the fourth time since the beginning of last season (a span of 115 games). But at the same time, Carbury’s team retained its place in the top four of the East.

Captain Alexander Ovechkin also began to experience problems with performance. The Russian forward did not score in five meetings.

“Dry victory”

The confrontation with the Canadian club is an excellent opportunity for Ovechkin and the entire Washington team to improve their statistics, because the Leafs have lacked stability recently. And already in the first period, Alexander almost opened the scoring: during the power play, the greatest sniper was delivered the puck to the “office”, and he unloaded the cannon, throwing it one-touch. Goalkeeper Dennis Hildeby was saved only by the frame of the goal.

And although the hosts were unable to capitalize on two numerical advantages in a row, when playing in the 5 on 5 format, they upset Hildeby twice. First, in the 14th minute, Alexei Protas scored: Justin Sourdif made a sweetie pass from behind the end line, and the Belarusian forward fired into the empty goal at point-blank range. Now Protas has “11+10” in 34 meetings.

A few shifts later, defenseman Jacob Chickran was the first to react to the rebound from the boards and made a successful finishing move – 2:0. Everything happened so quickly that Hildeby had no chance to react to the throw.

Surprisingly, there were no goals scored in the second period, although the teams played in the majority once. The hosts’ captain also had a chance to excel. In the middle of the game, the Russian striker rolled into a killer position and almost crushed the left post with his wrist shot – again the goalkeeper was rescued by the goal frame.

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Scott Taetsch / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

After the second period, Chikran scored a double. For Jacob, this is already the 14th goal this season, and among his colleagues in the role he has taken first place in this indicator. And another defensive player, John Carlson, put an end to the match with a goal in the 49th minute. As a result, Logan Thompson scored a shutout, stopping 22 shots, and Washington won a convincing victory over Toronto – 4:0.

— Even before the start of the game, it was clear that the team was determined and focused on preparation. Our players did a great job; they were focused and ready when the puck hit the ice,” Carbery said after the game.

The Capitals broke their three-game losing streak; all that remains is to wait for Ovechkin to finally score. Given his focus on goal, the wait probably won’t be long. The capital club’s next meeting will be at home against Detroit.