NHL Recaps: Maple Leafs blast Capitals, and Canes top Bruins
The Daily Goal Horn
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NHL Recaps: January 29, 2023
Two games were played on a light Sunday schedule in the National Hockey League.
Many teams have already entered the All-Star Break in preparation for the upcoming weekend festivities in Sunrise, Florida. One team that’s still going to be very busy are the Carolina Hurricanes, who took down the mighty Boston Bruins on Sunday and will play two more times before the league officially enters the break on Wednesday.
We start our recaps in Toronto, where Maple Leafs captain John Tavares celebrated his 1,000th career game with two helpers lifting his team over the Washington Capitals.
NHL Recaps: Maple Leafs blast Capitals
Maple Leafs 5 vs Capitals 1
Michael Bunting had a goal and assist, John Tavares added two assists in his 1,000th NHL game and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Washington Capitals 5-1 Sunday.
“I just tried to be where my feet were all day long and stick to the preparation with some added bonus with the ceremony with my family out on the ice, which was really special,” Tavares said. “Tried to execute and keep the game simple in front of me and just build from there, but overall, it was a great night from the group.”
Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for the Maple Leafs, who are 3-1-0 on their five-game homestand. The Leafs were boosted by four unanswered goals in the second period.
Former Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov, making his sixth consecutive start for the Leafs, stopped 23 shots.
It was Toronto’s second game without star center Auston Matthews (knee), who is on injured reserve and will be out for at least three weeks.
Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced in the second period by Charlie Lindgren, who stopped six of seven shots.
Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Capitals on the power play, who have lost four of their past six. It was his first goal of the season after returning from hip surgery.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray will be sidelined through the NHL All-Star break with an ankle injury, coach Sheldon Keefe said Sunday.
Murray’s injury isn’t of the long-term variety, according to Keefe. But the 28-year-old was scratched from his scheduled start prior to Friday’s 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Murray reportedly injured the ankle during warmups, necessitating the late change to Ilya Samsonov.
“There’s something there that’s going to require some time for sure,” Keefe said of Murray’s injury. “The length of time we won’t quite know really until we come back from the break. We’ll have a better idea of exactly where that’s at.”
Toronto resumes play after the break on Feb. 10 against the host Columbus Blue Jackets. The Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday in their last game before the time off.
NHL Recaps: Canes top Bruins
Hurricanes 4 vs Bruins 1
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes hand the visiting Boston Bruins their third consecutive loss by skating to a 4-1 victory Sunday night.
“The pressure down ice was awesome,” Andersen said. “They didn’t get good opportunities to set up until maybe in the third. That was big.”
Sebastian Aho, Paul Stastny, Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal scored for Carolina, which extended its winning streak to five games. Aho’s goal was his seventh in the last four games.
Taylor Hall had Boston’s goal.
Martin Necas and Brent Burns were credited with assists on Stastny’s goal. Necas and Aho each have a team-high 21 goals. Necas leads the Hurricanes in assists (24) and points (45).
Carolina led 1-0 after one period and 2-0 entering the third. Andersen raised his record to 10-3-0.
Aho opened the scoring with a breakaway goal at 10:52 of the first period. Stastny doubled Carolina’s lead when he scored during a Carolina power play at 12:05 of the second period, and Jarvis made it 3-0 when he took the puck away from Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo and beat Linus Ullmark 1:57 into the third period.
Ullmark made 32 saves in the loss.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article