Stolarz leads Leafs injury list in shutout loss to Capitals

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Anthony Stolarz went down in a heap, and the Maple Leafs soon followed.

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After losing their goaltender less than three minutes in, one of their best players as this sorry season concludes, Toronto fell behind 3-0 halfway through its eventual 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Winger Dakota Joshua (upper body) and defenceman Brandon Carlo (lower) didn’t return for the third period.

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The Capitals, trying to keep their Eastern Conference wild-card playoff hopes alive against the eliminated Leafs, didn’t need offence from Alex Ovechkin or much from their new 700-pound forward line of the behemoth Protas brothers and Tom Wilson. The siblings assisted on Cole Hutson’s empty-netter, giving Ilya Protas a point in his first NHL game.

The Leafs have been shut out twice this season, both by goaltender Logan Thompson and the Caps, who also won 4-0 in D.C. on Dec. 18.

Dylan Strome, Ryan Leonard and Martin Fehervary did the bulk of damage against Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll, who had to come in cold. Toronto stayed close in shots for a welcome change, but had no finish against Thompson. Joshua had a couple of great opportunities in close before leaving when his back made hard contact with the boards.

Stolarz, who had won three of his last four starts in finally rounding into form after a two-month mid-season absence with an upper body injury, was done after his second save. In stretching his left pad on Hutson’s shot, he hurt something and needed two teammates to help him to the dressing room.

Enter Woll, after one of his worst games of the season, a 7-6 overtime loss Saturday in Los Angeles.

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The Leafs were stymied on three power plays, while Mississauga’s Strome came home to beat Woll on one of the five shots he faced in that frame, a nice feed from Anthony Beauvillier. The Fehervary goal was a centring pass that banked in off of Jake McCabe’s skate.

Toronto killed off two Max Domi minors, improving on their third-ranked penalty kill. Ovechkin did get a classic one-timer away with the man advantage, but Woll read it. Ovi didn’t improve on his NHL-record 928 goals or his 45 against the Leafs, while John Tavares was blanked trying to make it 51 points in 52 starts versus Washington.

It’s unclear if Woll will play Thursday night in Long Island, or whether the club turns to one of the anticipated call-ups, Dennis Hildeby or Artur Akhtyamov.

Toronto’s record fell to 32-32-14 with four games remaining. The Maple Leafs have joined many scoreboard-watchers wondering if they will fall to the bottom five in the NHL and a chance to salvage their first-round draft pick from Boston.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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