Russia-Ukraine conflict casts a shadow as Maple Leafs beat Capitals 5-3 – The Globe and Mail

We are now 53 games into the season, and the Maple Leafs are within one point of first place in the National Hockey League’s Atlantic Division.

On Monday, they won in Washington – a place that has been very unkind to them historically – on a late goal by Rasmus Sandin that propelled them to a 5-3 victory.

It was a night where the Capitals returned to Washington for the first time since Russia went to war against Ukraine. Hours before the teams took the ice, the NHL issued a statement that condemned the invasion.

Perhaps hockey seems insignificant at this moment, but many of its players are Russians. The most famous, of course, is Washington superstar Alexander Ovechkin, a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. When given an opportunity on Saturday, Ovechkin refused to rebuke Putin.

Although embassies near the U.S. Capitol have been shining blue and yellow lights in support of Ukraine, it didn’t appear that anything special was done inside Capital One Arena on Monday. At least not from what was shown during Sportsnet’s telecast.

If hockey is supposed to be apolitical, then why did the NHL feel it necessary to say its piece? Along with the condemnation, it also announced it was suspending its relationships with business partners in Russian and pausing its Russian language social and digital media sites.

“We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL clubs, and not on behalf of Russia,” the league said. “We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.”

It is with that as a backdrop that Toronto and Washington engaged in a matchup between one of the most prolific scorers in NHL history and the younger buck vying to replace him.

Ovechkin and Auston Matthews squared off only hours after the Maple Leafs’ centre received honours as last week’s NHL player of the week.

Matthews has been on an extended hot streak and has taken over the NHL lead with 37 goals. Ovechkin is five back but has dominated Toronto throughout his career. The Great No. 8 ranks first in goals (41) and points (73) against the Maple Leafs despite the fact that he has never played in the same division.

There is no doubting Ovechkin’s place in hockey history. The 36-year-old entered the contest needing only three more game-winning goals to pass Gordie Howe (121) for the second most in NHL history and was five goals from passing Jaromir Jagr (766) for the the third most all time.

As often is the case, a game that featured two of the sport’s brightest stars wasn’t determined by either of them.

Two days after they scored 10 goals in a defeat of the Red Wings in Detroit, the Maple Leafs jumped on the Capitals with three in the first 20 minutes and then held on for the win.

They are now 35-14-4 and are one point behind the first-place Florida Panthers and have 74 points, same as the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning. The latter is ahead of them because Toronto has played more games.

Mitch Marner, who had four goals and two assists on Saturday, assisted on two goals in the first period as Toronto jumped out to a 3-1 lead.

It took just 2 minutes 35 seconds for Michael Bunting to bury a beautiful pass from Marner to put the Leafs up 1-0. It was the 18th goal of the season for Bunting, which is tied for the most among all NHL rookies, and his sixth point since Saturday.

“Right now, they are going in for me,” Bunting said. “I can’t get too high on the highs or too low on the lows.”

Conor Sheary deflected a shot by Nicklas Backstrom past Toronto goalie Petr Mrazek to tie it at 1-1 with 3:37 left in the first period. But the Maple Leafs regained control by scoring twice on Ilya Samsonov in the final 1:11, first on a sharp wrist shot by William Nylander, then on one by Justin Holl. The latter came with just two seconds remaining and ended Samsonov’s evening after he gave up three goals on 10 shots.

Tom Wilson scored on a power play 10:34 into the second period to trim Toronto’s lead to 3-2. Wilson deflected a booming one-timer by Ovechkin past Petr Mrazek for the score. Wilson later scored short-handed early in the third to tie it again.

That set up the wild ending, with Sandin scoring first and then Pierre Engvall getting an empty netter with 1:01 left.

Mrazek got the starting nod and registered 29 saves in his ninth win of the season. On Saturday, he replaced Jack Campbell in the third period and went on to earn the 10-7 win over Detroit.

Campbell had a 7-2 lead after two, but gave up three quick goals to allow the Red Wings back into the game before he was pulled.

He has allowed four goals or more in eight of his last 14 appearances and 14 in his last three starts.

“Jack was so good early in the season. and we were celebrating that, but you have to be prepared for it to go the other way,” Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs head coach, said earlier Monday. “Maybe you don’t want to have such extremes, but he has done really well for us.

‘”It is a mental block kind of thing going on right now that he is working through. But he’ll get there.”

Toronto got the fast start it needed and the one that Washington head coach Peter Laviolette feared.

The Maple Leafs are 23-4-2 when they score first, 21-2-2 when they lead after one period and 26-0-2 when they lead after two.

“They score a bunch of goals,” Laviolette said in the morning. “Their power play is dangerous, they move the puck well and they have a lot of high-end skill out there. It is a good challenge for us.”

Neither team entered the game in a very good stretch. Toronto was 5-4-1 in its previous 10, while Washington was 5-5 and had lost five straight at home.

Toronto’s next game is back home at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Maple Leafs have had their ups and downs, but more of the former than the latter.  A year after another disappointment in the playoffs they are stalking the leaders like never before.

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