Capitals survive young Maple Leafs’ best in 1st round to keep Stanley Cup hopes alive

The Washington Capitals have been waiting years to break through in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs just arrived, but gave them all they could handle in a six-game series that concluded with the Capitals’ 2-1 overtime win Sunday night. The message to the rest of the Eastern Conference seemed clear.

The future, that’s for the Maple Leafs. They showed in this series that their young players’ speed and skill is unparalleled, and coach Mike Babcock is an ideal fit to help mold that talent into a winning club. Forcing the Presidents’ Trophy winners into five overtime games (tying an NHL record for most in a single series) and two losses in the first year with Auston Matthews is an encouraging sign for where things will go in future postseasons.

But as bright as things look for Toronto going forward, it discovered that taking the next step in the NHL playoffs isn’t as easy as reaching them in the first place. The Capitals have been around this block countless times before with their many postseason flameouts. They weren’t going to blow this one to a team just discovering what playoff hockey is all about.

Marcus Johansson scored both goals in Game 6, including the greasy game-winner by beating Frederik Andersen near the crease:

The Capitals’ scoring was quite balanced in this series, too. Johansson was joined by T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, Justin Williams, and Tom Wilson to score multiple goals against the Leafs. Six of the seven defensemen recorded at least point, with the exclusion being Karl Alzner, who got benched after Game 2.

And Braden Holtby finished strong in Game 6 with 37 saves on 38 shots, improving his save percentage to .925 in the series.

Team efforts are how you win in the postseason, and that’s precisely what the Capitals did to win four games against a fast, talented, relentless Leafs team. They only had a narrow advantage in 5-on-5 possession (52 percent to 48 percent), per Natural Stat Trick, but came up in crucial situations with the goals needed to win.

That’s not something we can always say about the Capitals in the playoffs, but maybe a tough matchup against the Leafs served as a way to make sure Washington opened the first round on its best footing. The team didn’t really a choice given the way Matthews and company were flying around the ice.

The Maple Leafs showed they’re ready to be the next great team in the Eastern Conference soon. The Capitals, now set for a rematch with the defending champion Penguins, still have the opportunity to show that the present is theirs.