Oct 21, 2017
Sens cool off Leafs with strong defensive effort
All season long, the Maple Leafs have frustrated opponents with their blazing speed and talented forwards seemingly able to score at will. On Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, it was the Leafs’ turn to be frustrated. TSN's Maple Leafs reporter Kristen Shilton has more.
All season long, the Maple Leafs have frustrated opponents with their blazing speed and talented forwards seemingly able to score at will. On Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, it was the Leafs’ turn to be frustrated.
The Senators stifled their division rivals at every turn while jumping out to an early lead they’d never relinquish in a 6-3 victory. The loss, which was the Leafs first on the road this season, ended their three-game win streak and moved them to 6-2 on the season.
Right from the start the Leafs had trouble getting anything going against the Senators, who’s penchant for clogging the neutral zone has been a thorn in many an opponents’ side. After 13 minutes the Leafs were at only 25 per cent puck possession.
Not helping Toronto’s cause was their brutal handling of the puck in their own zone. The Leafs turned the disc over repeatedly and put Frederik Andersen to the test against some of Ottawa’s snipers. He was up to the task initially, making 12 of 13 saves in the first frame. The opening period has been Toronto’s best all season (they had scored 16 of their 34 goals in that period going into Saturday’s game), but after 20 minutes they trailed 1-0 and were being outshot 13-8.
The Senators are so good at forcing turnovers in the neutral zone with their active sticks that the Leafs were still struggling to ever establish zone time or the cycle game they like to play in the second period.
But after another big save by Andersen, against Bobby Ryan after he walked past James van Riemsdyk and tried to go five-hole, the Leafs finally woke up. Auston Matthews’ line came out with urgency and produced Toronto’s best shift of the night to that point. Nazem Kadri’s line followed suit with another strong shift generating good pressure in the offensive zone.
But short spurts of offence with no goals to show for it wasn’t going to slow down the Senators’ attack. Back to chasing Ottawa in their own zone, Toronto gave up two more goals, first to Ryan Dzingel and then Derick Brassard, before the period was over to take a 3-0 deficit into the third, matching their largest hole of the season.
Babcock moved to a mostly three-line rotation in the third to try and spark a goal from his group, pulling Mitch Marner up from the fourth line to play with Kadri and Patrick Marleau. The Leafs’ outshot the Senators 6-1 through the first seven minutes and Riemsdyk and Matthews both scored to bring Toronto within one.
Then the Senators went back to doing what they do as well as any team in the league - being relentless in middle ice and forcing mistakes. Mark Stone intercepted a bad pass by Nikita Zaitsev and went in alone on Andersen, pocketing his own rebound to put the Senators back up by two. Zaitsev had previously given the puck away to Stone in the slot in front of Andersen, but the goalie made the save.
William Nylander scored on the power play late in the frame to keep the Leafs’ comeback hopes alive, but Brassard and Stone both scored again in the final three minutes to ice Ottawa’s first home win of the season.
Saturday was a reminder to the Leafs of what can happen when they can’t rely solely on their offence to put opponents on their heels. While they held a 66-58 edge in shot attempts by the end, it was too little, too late once they got rolling. Their goaltending duel with the decimated Washington Capitals earlier this week aside, Toronto hasn’t been in games where their forwards have been consistently stymied for so long. Ottawa nearly let them back in the game by playing soft coverage in the third, but the Leafs earned the loss by being careless with the puck and not playing with any real urgency until well into the second period.
Takeaways
Goalie grinding
Andersen was Toronto’s best player on the ice in the first half of Saturday’s game, giving the Leafs a chance to battle back that they didn’t use. He was sharp in the face of the Leafs’ numerous giveaways and when Ottawa was allowed to create havoc in front of his crease Andersen stayed cool despite the breakdowns. As the Senators continued to pressure the Leafs, Andersen’s second half was rockier, especially on Stone’s third period goal where Andersen’s lack of rebound control facilitated the second scoring chance. It was the third time in seven starts Andersen has given up five or more goals. Toronto allowed 35 shots on goal against Andersen on Saturday, the sixth time in those seven starts he’s seen more than 30 shots. Ottawa remains the only divisional opponent Andersen has yet to beat as a member of the Leafs after going 0-1-2 against them last season. Saturday also marked his 72nd start since the beginning of 2016-17, second most by any goalie in the league.
The kids are (more than) alright
The Matthews line with Nylander and Hyman looked most frustrated by the Senators smothering defence early, but they were also the key to Toronto’s turnaround. Matthews was playing with the most urgency of any skater on the ice from the second period on; nearly every shift his line was out they were making an impact with good passing or a timely steal. The rest of the Leafs seemed to feed off that energy and try to match it, sparking the offensive momentum in the third period. That line finished with the Leafs’ best possession numbers, with each playing coming in at nearly 60 per cent or better.
Blueline Blues
Jake Gardiner and Zaitsev had a rough night as the Leafs’ most-used defence pair. They both ended up a team-worst minus-three and were credited with five giveaways between them. Their decision-making with the puck was poor, especially in their own end, and neither stepped up often enough to challenge the Senators' zone entries and prevent some of their better scoring chances. Gardiner seemed particularly panicked when trying to get the puck out the defensive zone, which led to further turnovers. This is just the second time all year Gardiner has been a minus (he was minus-one in Toronto’s loss to New Jersey) and Zaitsev had been at least even in every game before Saturday.
Killing the game
Toronto’s penalty kill was a rare bright spot for them against Ottawa, going 2-for-2 on the night. After a slow start to the season where the kill was too passive, those groups continue to focus on being more aggressive and it’s paying off by not only keeping pucks out, but by being a momentum generator for the team. The Leafs not only managed a couple solid shorthanded chances but they kept the Senators to the outside in the offensive zone for the most part and only gave up one quality opportunity, which Andersen was able to save. Toronto’s penalty kill is now ranked 9th in the league (83.3 per cent), up from 17th after their first four games.
Next game
The Leafs return home to take on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.