Leafs regroup, look to Tuesday for second chance to eliminate Senators
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The Toronto Maple Leafs had a golden opportunity to end their first-round series against the Senators on Saturday night when Ottawa forward Drake Batherson was assessed a double minor for high sticking early in overtime of Game 4.
But the Leafs could not cash in a goal during that four-minute chance, and the Senators ended up winning 4-3.
"We could have generated more off of it," admitted Leafs coach Craig Berube. "Could have been a little bit more direct on our power play in that situation."
Auston Matthews hit a post and Toronto put five shots on Linus Ullmark, but failed to beat the Senators goalie.
With John Tavares in the dressing room receiving attention after taking a hit from Artem Zub, Berube opted to move away from the five-forward alignment that has served the team so well this season. Defenceman Morgan Rielly took over as the quarterback on the top unit, which pushed usual QB Mitch Marner back to the flank and Matthews to the middle, which is where Tavares usually plays.
"Mo's had a great series and has done some really good things offensively," Berube explained. "So, that's an easy decision for me. Matthews had two good looks in the slot, and that's what we're looking for. It didn't work out, but we could have been a little bit more direct on that power play. I thought that we could have shot a few more pucks and put pucks into the net area more and created some chaos there. We'll be better."
Rielly has scored twice in the series, but struggled when leading the top power play unit early in the season.
During the second half of Toronto's season (final 41 games), the power play converted at 29.7 per cent clip, which ranked second overall. Tavares, who eventually returned to Saturday's game later in overtime, and net-front presence Matthew Knies, have wreaked havoc down low with Marner brilliantly sifting pucks through to the net.
The Leafs continued their power play hot streak early in the playoffs, going five for nine in the first three games of the series against the Senators. It's a big reason why they won all three games.
But on Saturday, Toronto failed to convert on four chances and even surrendered a shorthanded goal. Berube identified special teams as the difference in the game.
The absence of Tavares, who has scored twice on the power play in the series, proved hard to overcome during the overtime opportunity.
"Obviously, it affects it," said winger William Nylander. "He’s a big part of our power play. But, I mean, I thought we were still able to get some looks and maybe could’ve had a lucky bounce on our side and got one in there, but that’s how it goes."
The Leafs hope it will go better on Tuesday when they get another chance to eliminate the Senators.
Tavares was not available to the media after Game 4, but Berube indicated the 34-year-old will be available for Game 5.
"I don't think there's any concern," the coach said. "He came back."
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Berube stressed discipline prior to the game, but then watched as centre Max Domi took a roughing penalty for hitting Shane Pinto following a false start faceoff in the first period on Saturday.
"It's not a good penalty," Berube said. "He knows that. His emotions got a little too high there. And, yeah, that's one of the penalties that he knows he can't take and our team doesn't want to take."
The Senators made the Leafs pay as Tim Stutzle scored his first goal of the series on the ensuing power play. Ottawa has now scored a power-play goal in three straight games.
"There's things that I think we can tighten up a little bit on our PK," Berube acknowledged. "I think that we've got to get some more pressure on them. I feel like they're moving the puck around too easily. So, there's situations where I think we can pressure more and get clears. Forecheck up ice could be a little tighter too."
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Knies scored a highlight-reel goal in the second period to tie the game. After Marner cleared the puck from the defensive zone, the 6-foot-3, 227 pounder split the Senators top pair of Jake Sanderson and Zub to go in on a breakaway.
"I think they miscommunicated a little bit," said Knies. "I thought I'd jump and just poke it ahead of them because I thought I had more speed and just try to put it upstairs on him."
"We gotta communicate better," Sanderson said. "The puck just squirted out in between us and there wasn’t a lot of talking. We’ll clean that up."
Knies won the race for the puck and held off Zub, who was going to be penalized for holding or hooking, before beating Ullmark up high.
The play came at the end of a shift for the 22-year-old.
"With the adrenaline of a possible breakaway, a lot of energy," he said.
"Awesome," gushed Nylander. "Unbelievable finish. For sure got the boys fired up on the bench."
Knies, the youngest player on the Leafs, is now tied with Tavares for the team lead with three goals in the series.
Saturday's goal was the first for Knies at 5-on-5 in the series. He scored an overtime winner in last year's playoffs and is quickly emerging as a clutch player for the team.
"Well, that's a lot of effort," Berube gushed. "He pulled away. He's a powerful guy. And what really impressed me was, you know, it looked like he got in real tight in on the goalie, but just pulling that puck back and getting it upstairs. That's a high-end goal by him. He keeps impressing me along with impressing everybody in the organization. He's a very competitive player with a ton of talent, but it's his effort that drives him, in my opinion. That's an effort play all day long. Not quitting. Beating his D up the ice. Out-skating him. Out-muscling him, the skill to do what he did to score the goal."
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The Knies goal tied the game at 2-2, but the Senators regained the lead again in the third period on a goal by David Perron.
The Leafs battled back yet again as Nylander sent a beautiful seam pass to Oliver Ekman-Larsson who fired the puck past Ullmark with under six minutes to play in regulation.
"Willy is a type of player that can make those passes," Ekman-Larsson said. "So, I don't really have to say anything on the ice. It's not getting there backdoor, and shot it right away. It was a nice pass."
It was Ekman-Larsson's second goal of the series and fifth by a Leafs defenceman in four games. A Toronto blueliner has scored in every game in the series. Rielly lit the lamp in the first two games before Simon Benoit scored in overtime of Game 3.
"They’re moving well," Nylander said of the team's defence. "Getting pucks to the net and finding open spaces to get open, and getting the puck to the net and through traffic and everything, and scoring. It’s huge for us."
It's a big change from the regular season when the Leafs ranked last in goals scored by defencemen. So, what's going on in the playoffs?
"They are shooting the puck and activating," Berube explained. "We are doing a good job of that and getting pucks to the net. It was a great pass from Willy [on Saturday], but we were in a good set there. It was a good finish. Our D are doing a good job with that aspect of the game. They are playing well, defending hard, defending well, and helping us on the scoresheet, too."
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The Senators got their first goal from a defenceman in the series on Saturday night when Sanderson beat Anthony Stolarz with a 64-foot shot in overtime.
"They just threw the puck at the net," Stolarz said. "Just picked it up a little late. Just trying to get there and fight through the screen."
Stolarz allowed four goals on 21 shots in Game 4 while Ullmark turned aside 31 of 34.
Toronto limited Ottawa to just four shots over the final 40 minutes of regulation.
"We played a hell of a game," Stolarz said. "You know, just being able to battle back from 2-0, 3-2. I thought we had a lot of chances in overtime. I kind of like where our game's at. It boils down to just making one more save on my end."
It was the first career playoff loss for Stolarz, who saw his personal 11-game winning streak come to an end. The .810 save percentage in the game was his lowest of the entire season (38 games).
Nonetheless, Berube labelled his goalie's performance as "solid."
"On the last goal, he can’t see anything there," the coach noted. "There were a lot of people in front of him on that shot. He made a lot of good saves for us. I thought he was comfortable and played well. I am not concerned about Stolarz."
Stolarz is set to make a fifth-straight start on Tuesday, which will be a new season high for the 31-year-old. He insists the workload, even with three overtime games, isn't a factor.
"I feel fine, yeah," Stolarz said. "It's part of being an athlete, part of the training. It's what we train for. We have those rest days in between. We'll get an extra day here. So, use that to recuperate. But, you know, we'll get a nice practice in and we'll be hungry for Game 5."
Stolarz has seen his save percentage decline in every game of the series.
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Senators forward Nick Cousins was fined for shooting multiple pucks at Stolarz, his former teammate in Florida and Philadelphia, during warm-ups prior to Game 3. The Senators organization was also fined $25,000.
"I mean, I didn't even notice, to be honest," Stolarz insisted.
Stolarz and Cousins have not spoken since the series began.
"It's one of those things," Stolarz said. "Obviously, I know Cousy, played with him a number of years, so, you know, I'm sure he didn't mean any malicious intent by it."
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Shot attempts favoured the Senators 29-13 in the first period, per NaturalStatTrick.com. The Leafs fell behind 2-0 before a late Tavares goal at the end of the period gave them some life.
Despite the seemingly slow start, Berube refused to blame a lack of killer instinct.
"I don’t think that was the case," the coach said. "I thought our team played extremely hard and did a lot of great things. We gave up four shots in two periods. We defended hard and played hard. Bounces go one way or another. I am not too concerned about it. I thought our team was ready to go."
The Leafs will get another chance to advance on Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena, where they have won nine straight games. Toronto hasn't clinched a series at home since 2004 when they won the previous Battle of Ontario in seven games.
"We put ourselves in such a great spot," Knies said. "We just got to follow through with it."
Saturday's loss dropped the Leafs to 1-12 in potential close-out games since 2018. Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Rielly are the four players who have seen them all.
"We just got to stick to our game," Nylander said. "We don’t change anything. We just keep going. All these games have been tight, so just got to stick with it."
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Leafs lines in Game 4:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares - Nylander
Jarnkrok - Laughton - Lorentz
McMann - Domi - Pacioretty
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo
Benoit - Ekman-Larsson
Stolarz starts
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