The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to continue their homestand on the road when they face the Washington Capitals Thursday night.

The Leafs won their fifth home game in a row, 3-2. Auston Matthews and Dakota Joshua both scored within eight seconds of each other to complete the comeback after a 2-0 deficit.

Oliver Ekman Larsson, the defenseman who scored Toronto's opening goal in the third period, said: "I think we talked about it a bit after the first period, to get pucks back and to go to work, and to be on them a bit more." "I thought that we did that a bit more in third period and not passing a lot those chances we had."

The Maple Leafs are under pressure as they find themselves on the wrong end of the playoff line at the mid-season mark. Toronto finished its homestand with a record of 2-1-2. After Tuesday's match, reporters noted how often Toronto players and coaches appeared animated at the bench.

When asked what caused a particularly angry reaction during the first period, Maple Leafs Coach Craig Berube replied: "Oh, it could have been many things." "I'm unsure?exactly?which one."

Toronto can be comforted by the fact that it has won its last 3 games away from home with a combined score of 16-4. The Capitals were the last team to beat the Leafs away from home, winning 4-2 on November 28.

Washington returns to its home arena after a two-game road trip in which they were outscored by 10-1. Last Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild beat Washington 5-0. Filip Gustavsson stopped all 25 Capitals shots, handing them their second shutout of the season.

Spencer Carbery, Capitals coach, said: "There's no question that the majority of our group is struggling right now to execute and finish." "You can clearly see this for the past couple of games - it's been probably three or four." I know that you usually go through it -- and I have talked about it before -- but right now, the whole group feels like this.

Washington is still in the playoffs despite losing three games in a row. The team is confident that it can still maintain the same level of performance as last year, when the Capitals won the Eastern Conference by 111 points.

When asked if they had learned anything after the humbling trip, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk replied: "I think we're at that level." "Obviously, we haven't shown it in these last two matches, but we are a team who, when we play at our best, can be right up there with some of the best players in the league."

Toronto's battered defense hopes that veteran Chris Tanev will be back in the lineup after being cleared to practice regularly following an upper-body injury sustained on November 1. With Anthony Stolarz still out with an upper-body injury, the Leafs will continue to use their backup goalie duo of Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby.

Field Level Media

(source: Reuters)