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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – The Maple Leafs had a golden opportunity Wednesday to enter their bye week on a high-note. Instead the Leafs dropped their second straight game in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs trailed early and overcame two different deficits, but couldn’t find the final equalizer. Toronto collected just five of a possible ten points on their five-game homestand, while falling to 25-17-3 on the season.

Takeaways

Learning on the fly

The Leafs had a lot working in their favour heading into Wednesday night. Ottawa was playing on a back-to-back coming off an ugly 8-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, making them about as fragile a team as the Leafs could hope to face. Out of the gate, Toronto had good enough jump, with the Auston Matthews line looking especially strong. Their cycle game was going early on in their offensive zone and generated a few glorious scoring chances, none of which could beat Craig Anderson. That would quickly become a theme for the Leafs; fueled by an embarrassing defeat, Anderson was impenetrable when the Senators needed it most all game. To get past Frederik Andersen, the visitors used a couple lucky bounces, starting with their first goal - blueliner Thomas Chabot banked a puck off Roman Polak from the side of the net and in to open scoring midway through the first. The Leafs outshot the Sens 16-12 in that frame, but had nothing to show for it but the lingering frustrations of missed opportunities. Mike Hoffman made it 2-0 Senators early in the second period, putting a slick pass from Matt Duchene five-hole on Andersen. At that point it was easy to dismiss the Leafs as being in full-on holiday mode, but they were still dominating possession (at 61.67 per cent on the night). With Toronto’s forwards striking out from all angles around the net, defenceman Andreas Borgman finally broke through Anderson’s armour with a point-blast high-glove late in the middle frame, giving the Leafs some momentum to build from. They did so with a game-tying goal from James van Riemsdyk seconds into the third, but just 1:21 later, another fortuitous bounce for the Senators put them back on top. When a point shot when ringing off the endboards, Andersen couldn’t find the puck before Gabriel Dumont did and slipped it under the netminder’s skate. It was simply that kind of night for Toronto, where each time they battled back, a mistake would cost them. That’s what happened when Morgan Rielly tied the game 3-3 with eight and a half minutes to play in the third, only to be too aggressive on a pinch that led to Tom Pyatt’s game-winning goal with 3:05 to play. Learning to win is an ongoing process for the Leafs, and it was apparent in their game management on Wednesday.

Busy Bozak and Co.

Tyler Bozak’s line threw seemingly everything but the kitchen sink at Anderson but not one puck found its way past him. Mitch Marner had at least half a dozen near-misses, and couldn’t get a single one past Anderson. There was the breakaway in the first period that whistled high, and then several chances from in tight by midway through the second, each of which the goaltender managed to thwart. Bozak was strong on the forecheck and in board battles getting pucks off Senators to feed Marner and van Riemsdyk, and they were buzzing around the net on practically every shift. van Riemsdyk had 13 shot attempts by late in the second period alone, with eight going on goal. And yet despite all their efforts in the offensive zone, the Bozak line was also on the ice for both of the Senators’ goals. They were finally rewarded in the third period though, when van Riemsdyk broke through early with his 19th of the season, with assists from Bozak and Marner. With ten shots on goal by the end of the night, van Riemsdyk set a new career-high, surpassing his previous high of nine set on Oct. 27, 2011 with the Philadelphia Flyers. Their line combined for the Leafs’ best possession of the night at 70 per cent.

Rolling with Rielly

Late in Monday’s loss to Columbus, Rielly made a mistake at the blueline that ended up costing the Leafs a goal. Whether he was motivated by that painful moment or not, Rielly turned in his best performance of the season as the Leafs' best player on Wednesday. He had the puck on a string from the start, dominating the Senators whenever he was on the ice and in the possession battle at 66.67 per cent, pacing all Leafs skaters. He created several scoring chances for himself well before his third period bomb tied the game late, a goal that felt like a culmination of all the hard work he had put in over the previous 50 minutes. But then it was another mistake that would bookend his previous two games – Rielly called it a “miscommunication” when he pinched too hard in the offensive zone and left partner Ron Hainsey alone on an ensuing two-on-one that gave the Senators the last lead they would need. After the game, Mike Babcock said he thought Rielly “was really, really good” before the ill-timed play, and it was uncharacteristic of how he has played this season. For the most part, it has been Rielly’s poise with the puck and his confidence in making the right play that’s made this such a terrific campaign for him so far; with each passing game, he seems to mature a little more and play with even more confidence. But learning when to be more and less aggressive is part of the same process. Rielly has five goals and 31 points in 45 games this season, inching closer to his career-high of 36 points in 82 games two seasons ago.

Cause for concern?

No one would have predicted during the early-season “fantasy tour” that the Leafs would ever struggle to score goals. But over their last ten games, Toronto hasn’t looked like the dominant offensive group they once were; every shift can look like a grind and goals aren’t scored with any sense of ease. Teams adjust in the NHL, and certainly that’s part of what’s slowing the Leafs down. They have scored three or fewer goals in regulation in each of their last six games, with a 2-1-2 record in that stretch. Part of that issue is surely that the power play has looked anemic lately. Just 24 hours after the Senators ceded four power play goals to the Blackhawks, the Leafs' man advantage couldn’t get anything past their penalty killers. Toronto was 0-for-3 with the extra attacker and didn’t look particularly dangerous at any point, except when Marner had the puck. The Leafs were credited with six shots on goal while on the power play, but most were from in-tight, where Anderson was seeing the puck very well all night. Toronto has two power play goals in its last seven games (2-for-20), and Babcock did adjust his units by taking Leo Komarov off and putting Connor Brown on the second group full-time, but it wasn’t enough to make them look any less stagnant than they have in recent games. The chances being there is one thing, but the Leafs used to have terrific touch around the net, which has been lacking of late.

Next game

The Leafs will head into a five-day break on Thursday, returning to action on Jan. 16 against the St. Louis Blues.