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Simply his puckin’ luck.
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After Maple Leafs Tyler Bertuzzi banked a shot off Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren early within the second interval on Thursday, a thought occurred to educate Sheldon Keefe.
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“He will get one from beneath the purpose line,” Keefe mentioned after the Leafs soundly beat the Capitals 5-1 at Scotiabank Enviornment.
“I imply, he couldn’t get one from above the purpose line extensive open with empty nets earlier than. Now they’re entering into for him, however he has labored, continued to place himself in good spots. Confidence, it’s a humorous factor, when it comes and issues begin to go your approach.”
It’s essential for the Leafs, this late-season offensive restoration by Bertuzzi. He had seven targets in his first 55 video games after signing that one-year, $5.5-million US contract final summer season, and was on his technique to being a serious disappointment.
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In his previous 15 video games, Bertuzzi has scored 11 targets, beginning with a hat trick on Feb. 24 in Colorado, and together with two on Thursday.
“It’s a credit score to him to keep it up and proceed to do the nice issues and never get discouraged,” Keefe mentioned. “It’s necessary for our crew. I’ve maintained throughout this that Bert goes to be a vital participant for us. He’s going to attain large targets at key instances and to me he’s constructing momentum towards that.”
What has been the important thing not too long ago for Bertuzzi?
“I don’t know,” Bertuzzi mentioned. “I’ve been doing type of the identical factor and simply getting fortunate.”
One other Leaf who has the prospect to play an integral function into the playoffs, goaltender Joseph Woll, had a quietly efficient evening.
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In making 24 saves, Woll rebounded from a poor efficiency on Tuesday in opposition to the New Jersey Devils.
From begin to end, the Leafs didn’t give a lot to a Capitals crew allegedly preventing to maintain its playoff dream alive. Alex Ovechkin had simply two photographs on purpose.
The one puck to get previous Woll was a deflection by Nic Dowd at 5:27 of the second interval.
“Staff performed nice, made my job fairly simple,” Woll mentioned. “It’s necessary to me to take it a recreation at a time and if I’m possibly not as sharp as I’d prefer to be in a recreation, attempt to put it behind me and concentrate on the following one. I believed I did a superb job of that.
“I’ve been lucky to be within the internet so much currently. That helps with simply getting again within the groove of it.”
Keefe pointed to a save that Woll made on Caps defenceman Nick Jensen not lengthy after Mark Giordano gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
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“We had a breakdown on the D-zone protection and that’s in all probability the most important probability of the sport (for Washington),” Keefe mentioned. “It’s an enormous save. It doesn’t give them an opportunity to get life, will get us by that first interval.
“I believed the group took care of (Woll) fairly properly from there. It’s a superb response or bounce again, no matter you need to name it, for our crew and a tidy evening for Joe, to not give them the following one.”
In a uncommon prevalence, every Leafs skater was on the ice for at the least one even-strength purpose.
The Leafs beat the Capitals in all three conferences this season, outscoring them 16-5.
tkoshan@postmedia.com
X: @koshtorontosun
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