"It is hard to evaluate based on the injuries, right? They've missed Auston, Matty Knies, and Brandon Carlo, for that matter. Stolarz. With those guys coming back, especially Matty and Knies, those are big-time players. It almost gives them a full other line that you have to be extremely aware of, that can do a bunch of damage, and is a top line in the league."
"I don't think it is a coincidence that we are winning games and he's scoring at a high clip. If you look back at the beginning of last year, he was red-hot out of the gate, and so was our team. There is some correlation there when he is getting hot like this and pucks are going for him. It gives our group a lot of confidence that we are going to score tonight and get three or four."
"The patience of our game in the first two periods was really good. We have to manage the puck here and keep doing a good job with our defense on that side of things. Our forecheck was really good in that game, but we didn't do enough with the puck. We need to do more tonight with the puck on our forecheck in the offensive zone."
The Maple Leafs will play without William Nylander due to illness when they visit Washington. The Capitals have won five of their last six games, with Alex Ovechkin averaging a goal per game during that stretch. Capitals coach Spencer Carbery linked Ovechkin's scoring surge to the team's improved offense and growing confidence to score multiple goals. Carbery noted the difficulty of evaluating the Leafs while key players have been injured and said returns of players like Matty and Knies create an additional top-line threat. Capitals coach Craig Berube praised patience and forecheck work but emphasized better puck management and more production off the forecheck.
Read at Maple Leafs Hotstove
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]