Leafs Rally Late but Fall Short

 

Last night the Toronto Maple Leafs were back in action this time against their Provincial Rivals the Ottawa Senators. Yesterday afternoon the wait for Sens fans finally ended as the team announced that they had agreed to a new contract extension with Brady Tkachuk signing him to a seven-year contract.

For the Leafs they would give Petr Mrazek the start in goal making his regular season debut. Ottawa would have Anton Forsberg in goal as Matt Murray was unavailable because he has been battling the flu the last few days.

The first period in last night’s contest started exactly like Wednesday for the Maple Leafs as they would once again be on their heels for the opening ten minutes of the game, I know it’s early in the season but hopefully this habit is broken very soon. Turnovers would again be an issue for the Leafs allowing Ottawa to gain confidence and momentum.

Eight minutes into period one Ottawa would open the scoring as a Nick Holden point shot would be deflected by Tyler Ennis, the puck would then drop down in front of Chris Tierney and he would direct the puck in with his skate. After a quick conference with officials the goal would stand. With the Leafs once again trailing they would begin searching for their opening goal. As the first period went on Toronto seemed to settle down somewhat and begin to work their way back into the game managing to get shots on goal but Forsberg would turn away each and every opportunity.

With just a few minutes remaining in the first it looked as if Toronto was going to head to the dressing room trailing by only a single goal, but this period would go from bad to worse for Toronto because Ottawa would double their lead when Toronto failed to clear the puck from their end A point shot from Thomas Chabot would deflect off of Toronto’s Justin Holl then off the arm of Tyler Ennis and passed Mrazek. Exactly one minute later the deficit would continue to mount for the visiting Leafs as this time another point shot would deflect off Nick Ritchie and the puck would wind up on the stick of Alex Formenton and he would fire the puck into the Leaf goal and mercifully the first period would end with the Leafs trailing 3-0.

 

The second period would again see Ottawa controlling the play, but Mrazek would make some great saves keeping the Ottawa lead at three. Toronto would manage to kill off a powerplay for Ottawa midway through the period and would once again begin to spend more time in the Ottawa zone but just like he did in the first period Anton Forsberg would keep Toronto off the board with some clutch saves. After forty minutes the score would remain 3-0 for the hometown Senators but there would a reason of concern for the Leafs as after a big save by Mrazek at the end of the second period he would end up leaving the game with a groin injury and as of this writing I have yet to see an update on the status of Mrazek’s injury but it’s obvious that Jack Campbell will be in goal for the next little while.

 

With Jack Campbell now in goal to start the third and final period the Maple Leafs would control the play right from the center ice face off. With Toronto using their speed and skill they would draw an early powerplay. With Nakita Zaitsev in the box serving a holding minor the Leafs would have another opportunity to finally get on the board. With just over three minutes played Toronto’s first goal of the evening would come thanks to Jason Spezza who would step into a slapshot that would send the puck over the glove hand of Forsberg and thanks to the powerplay goal the Leafs would trail 3-1. Ottawa would be given another penalty just as the Spezza goal went in as John Tavares would be taken down by Ottawa’s Josh Brown. Toronto was unable to convert on the Josh Brown penalty, but momentum was clearly in Toronto’s favor. With around eight minutes played Toronto would pull with in one goal as while once again on the man advantage. Jason Spezza would have the puck down low near the goal line, he would then pass to Nylander in the high slot, and he would send a wrist shot into the Ottawa goal for his second goal of the young season.

 

Sadly, despite and great twenty minutes played by the Leafs in this third period the Leafs could not find that much needed third goal and for the consecutive season Ottawa would beat the Leafs in the Sens home opener. These two teams will meet once again on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena and hopefully they can find their way back into the win column but something the Leafs must do is of course start the game on time because if the Leafs continue to chase the game this season will be very frustrating and will end after game eighty-two of the regular season.

 

Thanks, as always for reading