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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Maple Leafs wanted to get back on track Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, but instead dropped their second straight in a 4-2 decision, despite outplaying the Senators for much of the game. Garret Sparks got the call in net and ceded two goals on 12 shots, before goals by Auston Matthews and Connor Brown mounted a comeback in the third period that ultimately fell short. The Leafs are now 4-4-3 in their last 11 games, with only four remaining before the end of the regular season. 

Got your number

The Maple Leafs found out just two weeks ago, during a 6-2 drubbing by the last-place Senators, how difficult it can be to get their game going in Ottawa. In fact, the Senators have been owning the Leafs in their building for some time, posting a 7-3 record against Toronto in the 10 home games prior to Saturday’s tilt. On top of that, Senators’ goaltender Craig Anderson had won six of his last seven home starts with the Leafs in town, and he would help the Sens maintain their recent dominance over a hated Atlantic Division rival. 

And by the end of the night, Ottawa would hold a 3-1-0 record over Toronto in the season series. That's despite the Leafs producing one of their better defensive games on Saturday, where they outshot the Senators 44-22 and controlled possession at 66 per cent. 

It was turnovers that killed the Leafs early, at both ends of the ice. Ottawa gave the puck away several times in its own zone, but the Leafs were helpless to make them pay thanks to strong goaltending from Anderson.

The 0-0 through 20 minutes stalemate wouldn’t last long into the second, courtesy of an Auston Matthews giveaway at the defensive blue line that Anthony Duclair turned into the game’s first goal, easily beating Garret Sparks five-hole.  

Now trailing the Senators 1-0, Toronto turned up the heat, but frequently failed to get bodies in front of the net, either to take away Anderson’s eyes or to tips shots in front. And Ottawa’s goalie kept coming up with the stops, including a big one on Tavares’ backhand for his 25th consecutive save late in the second period. 

While the Leafs were working overtime to solve Anderson, Sparks gave up another five-hole strike, this time to Magnus Paajarvi, on only the 12th shot of the game given up by Toronto. Paajarvi has scored five of his 11 goals this season against the Leafs.

When the third period began, Toronto was down 2-0 but besting Ottawa in shot attempts at 57-23. But the third is where the Leafs have totalled the most goals in any frame this season (now 102), and it was a turning point for them in Ottawa.

Matthews got Toronto rolling first, with his team-leading 12th power play goal of the season. Connor Brown followed up 29 seconds later with his eighth goal of the year, beating Anderson with a perfect top shelf strike. 

Just as quickly as the Leafs grabbed hold of momentum, it was taken away, this time by Cody Ceci’s wrister beating Sparks just over a minute after Brown’s score. 

Then the Leafs hurt themselves with bad penalties, two against Andreas Johnsson late in the game. Duclair added his second of the game on the power play while the Leafs’ net was empty, sealing Toronto's fate with yet another frustrating outcome. 

Change won’t do you good

Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock has been reluctant to alter his goaltending routine for years, relegating his back-up to only the second night of back-to-backs unless Frederik Andersen is injured. Given Andersen’s recent struggles though, with only two wins in his last seven starts, Babcock gave him a night off in Ottawa and tapped Sparks instead. 

It was Sparks who backstopped the Leafs in that lopsided loss two weeks ago, and then called out his team for not showing enough “emotion” in their game. That alone should have been a little extra incentive for the netminder to produce a better showing this time around. He played a tidy first period while turning aside seven shots, which marked the first time Sparks hadn’t given up a goal in the opening frame of a game since Nov. 24.  

The second period is where things became messier for Toronto on the scoreboard, and Sparks shouldered some of the blame in giving up two goals on five shots. 

While it was Matthews who lost the puck before Duclair scored, Sparks had a clear view of the shot but failed to close his five-hole in time. On Paajarvi’s goal, Sparks misread the entire play, opening his five-hole in preparation for a shot to his left that never came. 

The Leafs didn’t let up offensively despite being down a pair, and clawed back with two goals early in the third. Barely a minute into the game being 2-2, though, Sparks was beat again, high this time by Ceci. It was a well-placed shot that the goalie had less chance of stopping but put the Leafs back on their heels again none the less. 

Even when pucks weren’t going past Sparks, the goaltender was all over the place positionally, coming way out of his net and seeing pucks trail just wide behind him or playing too deep, like on Ceci’s goal.

Sparks is now 1-5-0 in his last six road games, and 8-8-1 on the season. The Leafs did their job in front of Sparks on Saturday, playing tight defensively and dominating possession. They needed more help from Sparks that their goalie couldn’t provide. He finished with 18 saves and an .857 save percentage, 

Back on the blue line

The Leafs have been anxiously awaiting reinforcements on their blue line, having played without Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott since late February. Gardiner is still a few games away from returning, but Dermott jumped back in on Saturday after missing 14 games with a shoulder injury. 

Dermott eased back into his first game in a month, playing it safe with short passes and clean breakouts alongside his defence partner Martin Marincin. He took seven shifts in the opening period, and look more comfortable in each. By the end of the first, Dermott was challenging Anderson with some good offensive chances, including where he nearly banked in his own rebound on Anderson with a strong backhand try. 

The 23-year-old continued to play solidly from there, but was still on the ice for all three of the Senators even-strength goals, proving there’s work to be done to re-establish all of Dermott’s game. For Dermott, getting his confidence back up, especially facing rush chances, will be key before the postseason.

Special teams tune-up

The Leafs unveiled new power play units at practice on Friday, with plans to try them out before the end of the regular season to get ready for playoffs. They tried a couple different looks on Saturday, including one with two defencemen (Jake Muzzin and Dermott) for a spell, and another with Matthews, Johnsson, William Nylander and Patrick Marleau. 

Those tries didn’t generate much in the way of opportunity initially, but the Leafs may still uncover some different combinations that might work to make them more unpredictable in the postseason. 

Throughout the first two power plays, Matthews was the Leafs’ best player, getting some good looks on Anderson that didn’t find mesh. It wasn’t until the Leafs’ third power play chance, when the Leafs’ regular top unit was on the ice, that Matthews finally broke through with a quick shot off a Mitch Marner pass. Matthews hadn’t scored on the power play since Feb. 23 in Montreal. 

Toronto finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play, its second power play goal in three games. 

On the other side, the Leafs penalty kill went 2-for-3, the only goal being when Duclair scored on what was technically a Senators' power play but Toronto had pulled Sparks for the extra attacker. 

Blue and White Trending

Tracking Leafs’ trends all season long. Toronto has put 40 or more shots on goal in four of their last five games, including 44 on net in Saturday’s loss. 

Next game

The Leafs continue their road trip against the New York Islanders on Monday. ​