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Leafs-Senators takeaways: Leafs fall to Senators on a lucky bounce in low-event affair

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have struggled big time against the Ottawa Senators in recent years, and it was no different on Saturday night. Two months after the Senators blanked the Leafs 3-0 at home, they came out victorious with a 2-1 win in a relatively low-event affair.

I wish there was a specific storyline about the game or something exciting that happened that I could dive deeper into, but that’s not the case. Bobby McMann opened the scoring early in the game, Tim Stutzle got it back for the Senators on the power play, the two teams played arguably the most low-event game in NHL history (don’t look up the stats behind that), and the Senators took the lead on one of the flukier goals of the season before playing that dreaded shutdown game for the rest of the night. That’s it. That’s effectively your summary.

What I can say about the game is that it had some intriguing sparks that shone a light on what could make for a potentially exciting playoff series between these two teams. You couldn’t really say that for the better part of the past six years because the Senators had typically locked themselves firm into the draft lottery race by the time the halfway point of the season rolled around, but to their credit, they’ve played solid enough hockey that they’re in the conversation come the 50-game mark of the season.

Max Domi hasn’t done much of anything on either side of the puck lately, but if there’s one way he can make himself useful, it’s by getting in Brady Tkachuk’s face all night. Of course, Tkachuk ended up with the last laugh, so it was a moot point. But it provided some entertainment and a further look into the potential for these two teams to hate each other more than they do right now.

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Wouldn’t a fresh Battle of Ontario be a treat with some new characters? Especially if they went the way the early 2000s series did? At best, it would be a fresh change from the constant Boston or Tampa race come April, and perhaps give them an opportunity to kickstart a deep playoff run for the first time in the Auston Matthews era. At worst, it’s an entertaining series that ends with another team making the list of Leaf playoff demons and likely spurring a change in player personnel by the end of the season. But hey, we don’t need to dread that in January.

There’s not much defending the Leafs for losing to the Senators for the fifth time in their last six meetings, but it pales in comparison to some of their previous losses against Ottawa. Especially when you consider that this was the game-winning goal.

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For what it’s worth, the Leafs had a similar goal called back in a November game against the Washington Capitals. And that’s all that will be said on the topic.

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The loss shrinks the Leafs’ division lead to one point after the Florida Panthers defeated the San Jose Sharks, while the Senators move within one point of the second wildcard spot. There’s a very real chance that they claim that first wildcard spot, the Leafs hold onto the lead in the division, and the two teams meet in the postseason for the first time since 2003-04, and some higher-event hockey could make it a series to remember.

Here are some additional takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ loss to the Senators.

  • Missing John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and Max Pacioretty doesn’t help your case, but it goes to show that the Leafs’ biggest need this season lies within their forward group. Losing up to three players is not at all out of the question come playoff time and this team can’t rely on their core forwards to score 100% of the time. That’s the way that it’s been lately, specifically in their recent wins, and after Knies and Bobby McMann, there’s a gigantic drop-off. Domi’s underperformance and Nick Robertson’s streakiness have arguably hurt them the most, and they can’t rely on the likes of callups like Fraser Minten and Jacob Quillan to chip in to that extent. A middle-six centre and winger should and likely will be at the top of Brad Treliving’s list.
  • Speaking of Quillan, it was a pretty quiet debut for the Maple Leafs’ signing out of Quinnipiac University. The highlight of his game came in a bit of a negative light, going knee-on-knee with Senators forward Nick Cousins, who has never been shy to sneak a dirty play into his game now and then. Cousins ended up getting the worst of the collision and left the game early, but that didn’t stop Craig Berube from criticizing the hit.

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  • The team’s problem with generating offence has largely fallen on their tendency to get stuck on the perimeters, and tonight was a perfect example. Their lone goal, coming off of the stick of Bobby McMann, came from the middle of the ice. Outside of that, any pressure they put on the Senators in the offensive zone was smothered by a weak shot into traffic from the outside or a broken-up pass across. It goes without saying like it has for years now, but this team needs to address that if they want to make a deep run.

The Leafs will take a couple of days off before they return to action on Wednesday night, hosting the Minnesota Wild.

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