The first two games between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs were won by unlikely heroes. But on Monday night at the Air Canada Center, the boldface names took over.
Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals in regulation, matched by the Leafs‘ Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri and William Nylander. Side-by-side, it looked like hockey’s present paired against it’s bright future.
The future, though, wasn’t expected to arrive so soon.
When forward Tyler Bozak scored the game-winner for the Leafs, who won 4-3 in overtime, he became the third member of his team to score his first career playoff goal in the contest.