Blew it: Leafs beat Caps 4-3

The Washington Capitals took an early lead against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, but much like a billowing leaf-blower on a crisp November afternoon that grows dark too soon like your long-vanished childhood, they totally freaking blew it.

Ontario native Taylor Raddysh scored first, crashing the net and assisted by Connor McMichael. Bobby McCann evened it up with a savvy assist by John Tavares, but the Caps regained the lead with a goal by Ontario native Dylan Strome. Non-Ontarian Aliaksei Protas had an assist on that one, but he was the scorer himself on the next one, a rush goal teaming up with Ovi and Sandin.

With four minutes left in the third period, Ontarian Tom Wilson gave the puck away along the blue line, leading to Matthew Knies making it a one-goal game. The Leafs needed just a few seconds of a six-on-four power play to tie it off the stick of Mitch Marner (from Ontario).

Tavares won it in the final seconds of overtime.

Caps lose.

• Before we get to bummers: The top line remains tremendous. Aliaksei Protas‘s tenacious forecheck helped Dylan Strome to get his goal. Pro keeps revealing new offensive dimensions. Ovechkin is often seen skating.
• For Toronto’s first goal, Matt Roy got outplayed by John Tavares, but the real issue was Rasmus Sandin, who had a wonderful view of Bobby McMann going to the net. (Sandin made good with a great assist on the Protas goal.)

• John Carlson heaved a heavy shot from the blue line that would have made it 3-1, but Nic Dowd incidentally glanced Joseph Woll in the paint, so it got reversed on challenge. No one knows what goaltending interference is.
• I actually know what goaltender interference is, but I’m not telling.
• On the flip side, Steven Lorentz had his own goal nullified because he directed the puck in with his glove or his leg or some kind of glove-leg hybrid. So he kicked it. I was absolutely, positively, cosmically convinced that was a goal. I think my eyesight is going or I’m losing my mind. Gonna put the laptop down and draw a clock as soon as this is live.
• An actual not overturned was Knies’s, giftwrapped by Tom Wilson and his massive goof of a turnover that I’m sure will bother him for the next few days. I bet Nic Dowd feels just as bad about his last-minute penalty. Not that this game was lost on mistakes alone, but those mistakes were brutal.
• There are lots of ways to watch hockey, and this from Drew, who designed the site, is the weirdest one:

• Nic Dowd left the game in the second period after absorbing Matthew Knies’ shoulder with his nose. Knies avoided a penalty, and Dowd returned late for the third period to do that penalty we just talked about.
• That sucked.

This was a nationally televised game, and in a way it felt like it was supposed to be Washington’s coming out party. They’re no longer flying under the radar. Everyone is noticing what this team is, or at least was for twenty minutes. For example:

Except that was all that before the Caps foundered. They just didn’t have the puck much after the first period, especially in the third, and they depended on Logan Thompson – now I guess the team’s de facto starter – to keep them in it. And that isn’t a plan for success. The Caps haven’t strung two wins together this month. They’ll try to stay .500 in November late on Friday night, in Colorado, against an Avs team who can’t seem to buy a save lately.