Carbery repeatedly calls collapse to Leafs 'embarrassing'

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said there was no shortage of shame to go around after his club blew a late lead and fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime Wednesday night.

"(The) second half of the game (was) ... not good at all," Carbery told reporters postgame. "Embarrassing, for that matter. The way that game played out, just embarrassing. Flat out. That's unrecognizable from our team. Playing a team on (the second half of) a back-to-back, (in the) third period, the way that looked and (losing) the two-goal lead. Embarrassing on home ice."

Aliaksei Protas scored his sixth goal of the season to give the Capitals a 3-1 advantage with 2:12 left in the second period. However, Toronto outshot Washington 9-6 in the middle stanza, and then did so by a 17-7 margin in the final frame. William Nylander made it 3-2 with 4:09 left in the third, and Mitch Marner tied it with 48 seconds to go in regulation.

John Tavares netted the overtime winner moments after Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll denied Alex Ovechkin point blank on a slap shot.

The Capitals controlled 73.33% of the expected goals at five-on-five in the first period, but the Maple Leafs got 59.87% in the second and 85.4% in the third, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Carbery started his coaching career in the Capitals' organization but then joined Toronto as an assistant coach in July 2021. Washington hired him as its bench boss in May 2023. He guided the Capitals to a playoff berth in his first season at the helm, but the New York Rangers swept them out of the first round.

Washington started strong in 2024-25 but fell to 10-4-1 with Wednesday's defeat. Toronto improved to 10-6-2.