Feb 17, 2021
‘Disciplined’ Leafs grind out win over Senators to snap two-game slide
Two days after blowing a four-goal lead and then losing to the Ottawa Senators in OT, the Maple Leafs bounced back with a hard-fought 2-1 victory Wednesday in Toronto to halt the first two-game losing streak of their 2020-21 season, Kristen Shilton writes.
TORONTO — The Maple Leafs were out for redemption against Ottawa on Wednesday night, and the Senators made it as difficult as possible to find. But just 48 hours after Toronto blew a four-goal lead and dropped a 6-5 decision to Ottawa in overtime on Monday, the Leafs rebounded with a hard-fought 2-1 win to halt the first two-game slide of their regular season.
“It was clear the way the night was going, it was going to be one where you got to earn your offence, have patience, got to keep your structure,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. "And I thought we did that for the most part. There's some things we definitely want to clean up but it's another one of those games, really close, tight, can go either way and you gotta stay disciplined and committed...to finally get our two points.”
The victory puts Toronto at 12-3-2 on the season, well atop the North Division standings with one meeting left against Ottawa on Thursday to cap off their three-game series.
That final contest feels very much up for grabs though, especially considering how the first two games have gone. Despite the Leafs coming off that brutal defeat on Monday, they didn’t start Wednesday’s game with nearly the same urgency Ottawa did. Toronto was mostly quiet throughout a sleepy first period, where neither side put any goals on the board but the Senators outshot the Leafs, 10-5.
“Our start wasn't a good one,” acknowledged Keefe. “Ottawa was definitely the better team in the first period. It was a lot harder to get to the neutral zone, a lot harder to get to the net, lot harder to get off the wall. I think it took us some time to really adjust and Ottawa was playing extremely well and playing to their structure perfectly. So it took some time for us to stay with that.”
Toronto eventually found its feet, and Joe Thornton thought he had them on the board twice before having both goals disallowed for pushing the goalie and then for a high stick.
But just nine seconds after his second scoring attempt was waived off, Thornton’s linemate Auston Matthews broke through with the night’s first goal.
That not only spotted Toronto a 1-0 lead, it was Matthews’ league-leading 13th goal in his last 12 games, and the 17th goal of his career against Ottawa. While Thornton wouldn’t end up with any points on that play or by game’s end, he did play a season-high 18:19 in the victory, in just his second game back from a rib fracture that sidelined him for four weeks.
“Once we scored there, right after the high stick, the boys were saying, ‘the puck don't lie,’” Matthews. “He's been all over it, and these two games that he's been back he's looked completely normal. He's playing well, he's making plays doing things that he does, and he's super easy to play with.”
The goal from Matthews nearly held the Leafs ahead until the final frame, but the Senators were not content to sit back. In the waning minutes of the second period, Justin Holl executed a poor pinch and Ottawa capitalized with a two-on-one rush finished off by Brady Tkachuk, accounting for the 100th point of his NHL career and sending the game tied 1-1 into the third.
That would be the only blemish on Frederik Andersen’s 27-save night. After two unsuccessful power-play efforts early in that last period, Alex Kerfoot finally put the Leafs back on top from a scramble on Matt Murray’s doorstep. It would stand as the game winner, and propel Toronto back into the win column.
“This was a huge win for us, bouncing back from a tough loss the other day,” said Kerfoot. “It's really big in a shortened [56-game] season like this to stop that kind of negative momentum. You don't want to let that creep into your minds or into your game and so coming right back out and winning the game in which I think Ottawa played a good game as well and didn't give us much, that was a big win for us.”
And it came without many of the offensive theatrics of special-teams excellence Toronto often displays. Both the Leafs and Senators finished 0-for-3 on the power play, and put an equal 28 shots on net.
But in that sense, grinding out a win reminded the Leafs what they’re capable of, even when they’re not at their best. Keefe wouldn’t divulge any potential lineup changes before Thursday’s half of the back-to-back, but suffice it to say the Leafs are ready for just about anything after their last two outings.
“We're playing good hockey for the most part, and that's what's great,” Kerfoot said. “Our goal is just to focus on the next game and get ready to win a hockey game regardless of who we're playing, when we're playing or what’s going on. We were focused all day long and had a good mindset coming in. They played a hard game [and] made it difficult on us but we were able to get the two points.”