Leaf guns no match for Caps

WASHINGTON-Suddenly, a Maple Leafs offence that seemed so surprisingly explosive just a week ago, has dried up.

And so have Toronto's victories.

So last night, when it finally appeared the Leafs were getting the goaltending necessary to win, the goals just weren't there to cover up for the defensive gaffes the way they once were.

So the Leafs, who for the second time this month played a mostly solid game against Alexander Ovechkin and the dynamic Caps, lost 4-1. It was their third consecutive defeat, a stretch in which they have scored four times. On this two-game road swing, Toronto produced two goals from Lee Stempniak and, last night, one from Niklas Hagman.

"Bottom line is we can't win a game scoring just one goal," said forward Nik Antropov. "I don't think we're going to the net as hard as we can go. (Washington goaltender Jose) Theodore was leaving lots of rebounds there but none of us was there to tap them in."

That lack of production won't be helped by the loss of No.1 centre Matt Stajan for up to two weeks. He suffered a freak eye injury Saturday when he was hit with a soccer ball during warm-up. The Leafs just don't have the depth up front that the Caps are showing themselves to possess with their own mounting injuries.

Puzzling about this Toronto drought is that, in the previous six games that produced five wins, the Leafs were on fire with 27 goals, including a stretch of 18 in three games.

"There's some things we've gotten away from offensively. We're not shooting enough pucks towards the net and creating scrambly situations," said coach Ron Wilson.

Despite the pop-gun attack, the Leafs were hanging in with time ticking down in the second period. No easy feat considering Washington is now 15-1-1 on its own ice this season.

It was 1-1 late in the middle frame when the Leafs decided to throw the puck away a couple of times, including a giveaway by Mikhail Grabovski at the Toronto blue line. Not a smart move when, a) it was a four-on-four situation and the Leafs skaters had been caught out on a long shift, and, b) one of the Washington skaters was Ovechkin.

"We should have realized the time, the score and who was on the ice," said Wilson. "When the best player in the league is on the ice, or one of the best, you can't mismanage the puck and we did."

Ovechkin steamed down the right wing and snapped a shot that squeezed between goaltender Vesa Toskala's left arm and body. That gave Washington a 2-1 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the period.

"That goal killed us," said Antropov. "You just can't make those mistakes in our zone."

"Turnovers have been killing us and it happened again tonight," said defenceman Ian White.

Another giveaway by Tomas Kaberle with less than five minutes remaining allowed Brooks Laich to pop in his second of the game for a 3-1 lead. Then Ovechkin clinched matters with his second of the game, and 12th in the last 10 games, into an empty net.

The goal helped prolong what has been a remarkable run for the Caps, who have won six straight games on their own ice despite numerous injuries. Last night they were without, among others, Alexander Semin (back), Tomas Fleischmann (pneumonia) and Sergei Fedorov (shoulder), three players who would probably form Toronto's top line if they wore blue and white.