Capitals coach humble heading into Toronto

Their series may be tied up 1-1, but it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs have the NHL’s most dominant regular season team spooked.

The Capitals lost in dramatic fashion Saturday night in a game that needed not one, but two grueling overtime periods to settle. Kasperi Kapanen proved to be the hero for the Leafs, ending the game with a goal after 31 minutes of sudden-death hockey.

Speaking with the media, Washington head coach Barry Trotz said, “we may tweak something” before heading into Toronto for the next two games. After two match-ups in Washington the Capitals have looked to be a far cry from the dominating team that led the NHL in regular season points.

Some are hoping that means the return to of defenseman Nate Schmidt to Washington’s bench, otherwise Trotz will likely be looking to shake up his line combinations to try and find a way to adjust to the Leafs’ game.

Trotz stayed humble saying, "The reality of it is it's going to be a long series no matter who you play", a sentiment that might be hard to swallow for Washington.

The Leafs will be forced to make some lineup adjustments of their own. Veteran defenseman Roman Polak went down with a devastating leg injury in the second period of Game 2 and is unsurprisingly finished for the season.

If Leafs blueliner Nikita Zaitsev is ready for their next game he will likely slot in for Polak. The 25-year-old Russian was forced out of the lineup with an upper body injury in Toronto's last game of the regular season.

The Capitals are heading into Toronto with legitimate concerns, but Trotz is trying to keep his squad grounded ahead of what’s going to be an explosive atmosphere at the Air Canada Centre, saying: "They won a game in our building. The series is on. It’s on".

The Capitals will take on the Leafs at home in Toronto on Monday, April 17^th.