Bunting Does the Trick in Ottawa

 

    

 

Before I talk about tonight’s Leafs game, I know readers will want to know tonight at the Rogers Center the Toronto Blue Jays managed to pick a very important win in game two of a three game series with the New York Yankees winning 6-5 to remain one game out of the final playoff spot with four very important games left.

 

Alright now to the task at hand, tonight the Maple Leafs traveled to Kanata and the Canadian Tire Centre to face off against the Senators. Toronto would be looking to rebound and climb back into the win column after suffering a 5-2 loss in Montreal. Tonight, we would once again see a Leafs lineup similar to the one in Montreal with a few exceptions Michael Bunting who collected a goal back on Saturday night and Josh Ho-Sang who is with the Leafs on a Professional Tryout would find their way into the lineup. Petr Mrazek who played very well Monday night would get the start tonight and he would get the entire sixty minutes. Ottawa would give the start to Filip Gustavsson who was one of the few positives last year for Ottawa as he went 5-1 in seven starts.

The first period would see Ottawa look like the night was going to be in their favor as Ottawa would collect the first seven shots of the game causing Mrazek to step up early and often to keep zeros on the board. Toronto however was able to withstand the early pressure and momentum would begin to turn for the Leafs and they would see more and more chances go their way. Just after thirteen minutes played in the first Toronto’s strong play would pay off as defenseman Carl Dahlstrom would see his point shot stopped but David Kampf would collect the rebound and score the games first goal collecting his seconds goal of the exhibition season. Toronto now with a 1-0 lead would continue to apply pressure but to Gustavsson’s credit he managed to shut the door and he would keep the Toronto lead at 1-0.

 

The second period would see Toronto get to work on their powerplay because Ottawa would find themselves becoming frustrated from chasing the play and being outworked by their Provincial rivals. Due to Ottawa’s frustration midway through this period, we would see Toronto receive three consecutive powerplays. The first would come around the fifteen-minute mark while Chris Tierney watched from the penalty box Ondrej Kase would send the puck over to Ho-Sang who center the puck out front to Michael Bunting who score his first of the night giving the visitors the 2-0 advantage. Just a few minutes later Toronto would triple their lead as Rasmus Sandin would fire a point shot from the top of the zone towards a waiting Bunting who deflected the puck into the Senators goal for his third of the preseason and second of the game. It’s also worth mentioning that on this second Michael Bunting goal Josh Ho-Sang picked up a secondary assist giving him two points for this game, and if you look at his strong performance tonight and his good play from Saturday’s game if this keeps up, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dubas and the Leafs offer Josh a 2 way contract where he would see action with the Marlies and the Leafs when called upon.

 

Toronto would start the third period by seeing their opponents use a different goalie. Ottawa would switch to Denmark National Team Member Mads Sogaard who last year while playing in Belleville won all seven of his starts posting a 917 save percentage in the process. The final frame would see Toronto just run down the clock but also capitalize on the opportunities given to them from Ottawa trying to get the Leafs to fight but in a meaningless game and one that was well in hand Toronto wasn’t going to sink to the level of the Senators they had some important things to focus on like getting through this period healthy. Ottawa’s night would go from bad to worse because in the final few minutes of play Toronto would be on the man advantage for the final time tonight as Parker Kelly would need to serve a minor penalty for cross checking Ho-Sang, and on the following powerplay Ho-Sang would send the puck behind the goal to former Sens player Michael Amadio who would set up Bunting for his hat trick goal a shot that beat Sogaard on the blocker side.

The final horn would sound, and Toronto would win this game 4-0 and Petr Mrazek would stop all nineteen shots he faced picking up the shutout. As I am writing this, I see that it’s 1 in the morning which means I need to get some sleep. Toronto is back in action sort of when Friday night the team will hold a Blue and White game that you can watch on TSN.

 

Thanks as always for reading and please if  you don’t already please follow me on Facebook because if there’s any news between now and October 4^th when Toronto is back in preseason action I will post it all there.