OTTAWA鈥擳here鈥檚 no need for alarm in Leafland, is there?
Maybe Saturday night鈥檚 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators in Game 4 of this first-round series was to be expected. This Ottawa team is no slouch. While the Leafs won the opening game in a blowout, Games 2 and 3 were both 3-2 overtime nail-biters. And if playoff sweeps don鈥檛 happen often in the NHL, they happen even less frequently in Leafland. Toronto鈥檚 most recent one took place in 2001. The one before that came in 1949.
Still, considering the Leafs arrived at Saturday鈥檚 game with a 3-0 series lead, let鈥檚 just say a playoff sweep聽鈥 beers and brooms in Bytown 鈥斅爓ould have brought welcome relief for a fan base scarred by years of playoff near-misses. Instead, thanks to a Jake Sanderson wrist shot that found its way through copious net-front traffic and over Anthony Stolarz鈥檚 glove late in overtime, it鈥檚 back to 海角社区官网for Tuesday鈥檚 Game 5.
JAKE SANDERSON WINS IT FOR THE SENS!
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WE WILL HAVE A GAME 5 IN THE BATTLE OF ONTARIO!
Between then and now there鈥檒l be plenty of opportunities to revisit the historic inability of the Shanaplan-era Leafs to close out series. 海角社区官网is now 1-12 with a chance to eliminate an opponent from the playoffs going back to 2018. That鈥檚 a Blue Jays-esque sequence of swings and misses.
鈥淗e just threw a puck at the net聽鈥 I just picked it up a little late,鈥 Stolarz said, describing the winner. 鈥淚 kind of like where our game鈥檚 at. It boils down to just making one more save on my end.鈥
There are reasons to believe this Craig Berube-coached edition of the team is different, for sure. But those reasons can only be confirmed with significant victories. And Saturday amounted to a squandered chance at one of those. Suddenly the nothing-to-lose Senators have life. Which, for the Leafs, wasn鈥檛 being cast as life and death.
鈥淚 thought our team played extremely hard and did a lot of good things. I thought we defended hard, played hard,鈥 Berube said. 鈥淏ounces go one way or another. I鈥檓 not too concerned about it. I thought our team was ready to go. We did a lot of good things tonight. It didn鈥檛 work out.鈥
Still, Berube acknowledged聽his team had its hiccups. It wasn鈥檛 a good sign that Max Domi鈥檚 needless first-period roughing penalty聽鈥 a butt end to the face of Shane Pinto in the faceoff circle聽鈥 led to a 1-0 Ottawa lead on Tim St眉tzle鈥檚 power-play one-timer from the right dot. Pinto got his revenge shortly thereafter when the Leafs鈥 five-forward power play coughed up a blue-line turnover that sent Pinto in alone to make it 2-0. That Ottawa lead could have been 3-0 had Jake McCabe not swatted a puck off Toronto鈥檚 goal-line a while earlier.
The Leafs got one back in the final minute of the opening period, John Tavares tipping home a William Nylander shot to make it 2-1. And Matthew Knies tied it 2-2 with a gorgeous breakaway goal after the Senators turned one over at the blue line following an extended stretch of pressure in the 海角社区官网zone.
The Leafs鈥 defensive discipline ramped up as the game wore on. 海角社区官网held the Senators to two shots on goal in the second period. But the Senators sprinted hard into the third period and got ahead. David Perron鈥檚 mid-third-period goal made it 3-2 for the Senators, the first time in the series Ottawa got more than two pucks past聽 Stolarz.
It was a battle until the end. Oliver Ekman-Larsson tied it 3-3 with 5:29 to go, sneaking into open space to slap home a brilliant backdoor pass from Nylander. But for the first time in the series, the Leafs couldn鈥檛 supply any overtime heroics. It鈥檚 not like they didn鈥檛 have chances. Senators forward Drake Batherson, the goat in Game 2, gifted the Leafs a four-minute power play for an overtime high-sticking penalty that drew blood on Chris Tanev. With Tavares momentarily sidelined after taking a hit from Artem Zub, and Morgan Rielly subbing on the top power-play unit, the Leafs didn鈥檛 score with that extended man advantage. Auston Matthews hit a post. Tavares eventually returned.
Maybe Toronto鈥檚 previously red-hot power play, 0-for-4 on the night with a short-handed goal against, was due to underperform. Maybe Stolarz was due to cool off. Certainly Saturday’s game was lost on special teams.
鈥淲e gave up a (power-play) goal and a shortie against our (power play). We had opportunities with the four-minute power play in overtime. We couldn鈥檛 get it done,鈥 Berube said. 鈥淲e had some good looks. It didn鈥檛 go in. I鈥檓 not going to look at it too much. Could have ended it 鈥 We had our looks.鈥
So, if Berube is of the mind there鈥檚 no need for alarm in Leafland, there鈥檚 clearly need for desperate attention to detail in Tuesday鈥檚 Game 5. The last thing the Leafs need is a return trip to Ottawa for Game 6, with the pressure mounting and the series death blow still eluding them.
鈥淲e鈥檝e put ourselves in such a great spot,鈥 Knies said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to follow through with it.鈥
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