Third-period letdown dooms Maple Leafs in D.C. defeat

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Goaltender Joseph Woll can only do so much.

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The Maple Leafs allowed 30-plus shots and two late third-period goals in falling 4-2 to the Washington Capitals on Friday in D.C. Toronto was trying to win consecutive games for the first time in three weeks, with Woll facing 30-plus shots after an overtime win in Columbus in his sixth straight start.

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The Leafs have now lost eight of 10 and remain near the Eastern Conference basement.

Late in the game, with Woll pulled for an extra attacker, Capitals goalie Logan Thompson gloved a Matthew Knies shot.

The Leafs had a couple of great opportunities to extend their well-earned 2-0 lead, but were not able to score. They clung to a one-goal lead with less than seven minutes to play, fumbling a puck wide behind Woll that got past Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Alex Ovechkin for a pass to Anthony Beauvillier.

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Blanked on his attempt to get a 46th career goal against Toronto, it was Ovi’s 35th assist. Jakob Chychrun, having a wonderful offensive year from the backline, beat Woll with a point blast less than three minutes later.

Tom Wilson added an empty-netter as the Leafs, among their other sins in this sputtering 10-11-3 start, lost for the third time when leading after 40 minutes. It countered their tendency to give up the first goal when Morgan Rielly delivered on the short side after Thompson was slow to cover. That was just the fourth time in the past 17 contests Toronto opened the scoring.

Rielly’s goal came after Washington had its first-minute goal scrubbed on a quick whistle when officials thought Woll had covered the puck. While it still could have counted as continuation of the shot, the puck died on the goal-line after the toot before Dylan Strome tapped it in.

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At the end of killing a Scott Laughton penalty, Auston Matthews and Knies broke away, Matthews stopped, but was able to dodge an Ovechkin hit to set up Knies for his first goal since coming back from injury. That assist was historically significant, Matthews passing the departed Mitch Marner for fifth in franchise history with 742.

But Toronto’s difficulty in second periods this year with the long bench change came back to bite. The weary group caught out too long could not defend a crease rush by the Caps with GTA native Conner McMichael beating Woll on the Caps’ 18th of 33 shots on Woll.

Thompson, who still is in the Team Canada Olympic conversation, stopped a John Tavares breakaway in the third period and made two big saves on Laughton.

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The Toronto lineup was a hot topic before the game as leading scorer William Nylander woke up with an illness for the late afternoon start and had to be scratched. But instead of Matias Maccelli taking a seat a second time, the slumping Max Domi became the latest high-profile benching after Dakota Joshua.

Domi had six points in 23 games despite some first-line time and was a notable minus-13. Joshua came back and started the forecheck on Rielly’s goal.

Woll will swap out with Dennis Hildeby on Saturday night when Toronto continues its road trip in Pittsburgh, which defeated  Columbus on the road in overtime Friday night.

It’s possible Nylander and Domi return for the game Saturday.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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