Who is Justin Williams?
“He’s a winner. Plain and simple,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.
Williams shoved the Toronto Maple Leafs to the edge of elimination with his overtime winner Friday night in Washington, which gave his team a 2-1 victory and 3-2 series advantage.
“Mr. Game 7. It’s all it takes. One shot and we get the lead,” teammate Alex Ovechkin told reporters. “We’re going back to play in Toronto and try to win there.”
Uncle Leo’s nose wouldn’t stop bleeding, Braden Holtby wouldn’t stop saving, and nastiness persisted in another gem from the tightest, bestest series of Round 1.
Here are eight takeaways from Game 5.
Williams mans up, wins a game
The goaltenders answered the bell, and so did the clutchest player on the ice.
Heading into Game 5, the Maple Leafs–Capitals barnburner had averaged a gaudy 74.3 shots per game. Stingier defence cut that number by more than 20 as the clubs combined for only 53 shots in this one.
Shot No. 53, of course, belonged to Williams, who beat Frederik Andersen five-hole in the slot just 64 seconds into the fourth period.
One more W, and the Capitals will duck the upset and advance to the second stage of their ultimate goal.
“Our aspirations are certainly as big as they get,” Williams said.
“It’s very rare when you see a team waltz their way all the way to the Stanley Cup. It doesn’t happen. And if it does, it’s very few and far between. You go through adversity on your way there. I’ve been on a couple of championship teams down 0-2, down 0-3, so you rally around it.
“There’s a lot of times during the playoffs where you need to man up and win a game and the pressure is on. This is one of them.”
Dude is money.
Kadri delivers low blow to Ovechkin
I didn’t like it. Maybe you did. The debate will rage until the next borderline hit.
Nazem Kadri has made it a personal mission in the last eight days to crawl under the skin and into the brain of Alex Ovechkin and his line. He’s done a good job of it.
Towards the end of the first period, Kadri ducked low and banged a speeding Ovechkin below his left knee, which buckled something fierce. Ovie flew ass over tea kettle and hit the deck.
Unable to put weight on his leg, Ovechkin needed Nate Schmidt and Nicklas Backstrom’s help off the ice and wobbled straight to the dressing room.
“I thought he got rid of the puck, and I tried to get a piece of him, and he tried to get out of the way. It’s not like I stuck my knee out, or got my arms high, or anything like that,” Kadri told reporters. “It happened pretty quick. But from what I saw, it was OK.”
Kadri was dinged for a tripping minor. A five-minute clipping major would’ve been a more accurate call.
“If it’s dirty, it’s dirty,” Ovechkin said.
T.J. Oshie will not stop scoring
Kudos to Brian MacLellan.
Two summers ago, Washington’s general manager went out and acquired Williams and Oshie, a pair of veteran wingers who have more than lived up to expectations at the most critical time of year.
Oshie got the Caps on the board in Period 1 by banging in a rebound on the Kadri power play. The impending free agent leads all Capitals with seven points in the series and has 17 points (9 goals, eight assists) through 17 post-season appearances with Washington. Ka-ching.
Again, it was Backstrom’s top line that made an early impact. The Capitals are these playoffs’ most dangerous team in first periods and on the power play.
“We’ve got to be on our toes, go after them right at the start,” Jay Beagle said pre-game. “Backy’s line has been unreal at just getting the energy going from right at the drop of the puck and going after them and trying to put them on their heels and [letting] us stay on our toes.”
Ovechkin returns, Hulk angry
“Physicality is important in a playoff series,” Matt Martin explained between games 4 and 5. “It can be undervalued. Emotions run high when you see someone get hit.”
The Great 8, who has never missed a post-season game, surprisingly came out before the second frame to twirl around and test his knee. He was encouraged by a standing ovation and “O-vie! O-vie!” chants as he rejoined the contest.
Next thing you know, he’s taking eight strides at Jake Gardiner on the forecheck and hammering the Toronto defenceman into the corner boards with comic-book-like impact. Wa-bamm!
The superstar sneak-sticked Kadri in the ribs behind the play later in the frame, then gave his antagonist a jerky cross-check as Capitals D-man Matt Niskanen slashed Kadri hard behind his left knee in the waning moments of Period 2. Kadri might have embellished a little, helping draw a slashing minor on Niskanen.
“Glad he came back,” Kadri said of Ovechkin, “but he was running around a little when he came back so he must have been fine.”
Kadri was asked about the pressure Ovechkin is under to win a Cup.
“He’s not the only desperate one that’s going to be out there,” Kadri said, prior to puck drop. “We’re going to be a desperate team fighting to bring the series back to Toronto, up a game. It’s desperate for both groups, but, yeah, I’m sure he’s feeling it a little bit.”
Dart Guy has left the building
To the dismay of the face-painted diehards, Dart Guy failed to make the voyage to Verizon Center this time and instead soaked in the tension amidst the outdoor throng at Maple Leaf Square.
No word yet on Dart Guy’s availability for Game 6, but we’d expect him to make an appearance at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Air Canada Centre.
Matthews scores in three straight
His Calder finalist status now official, Auston Matthews was the only Maple Leaf able to solve a razor-sharp Holtby (.960 save percentage) on Friday night, when he got to the net and pounded in a loose puck to tie the game and send ’er to overtime.
“When things are going tough, he’s still pushing, no matter what the score is. He’s out the door and he’s playing hard,” said fellow rookie Connor Brown.
“It’s contagious, and it’s nice when one of your best players is doing that every night.”
Matthews became the first Leafs rookie to score in three consecutive playoff games since Wendel Clark did the deed in 1986.
Wilson comes tumbling back to Earth
Tom Wilson, the fourth-line hero of games 1 and 4, was way off on this night.
The grinder-turned-goal-scorer was stapled to Barry Trotz’s bench after committing four minor penalties in this one. He skated fewer than 10 minutes and registered a dismal possession rating of 36 per cent.
“You cannot take four penalties in a playoff game,” Trotz said. “So he did not see the ice after that last one.”
History gives Leafs a chance?
If there is a silver lining for Leafs Nation Sunday, it’s that the Capitals have a losing record (4-9) when series have been tied 2-2.
Six times in their 100-year history the Maple Leafs have recovered from a 2-3 deficit to win a playoff series.
“I don’t think we’re hanging our heads on this,” Matthews said. “We played a pretty solid game tonight and we’re going back home in a must-win.”
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