The Senators took the lead three times tonight, on goals from Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, and Mark Stone, but the Leafs would win out with goals from Peter Holland, James Van Riemsdyk, Josh Leivo, a short handed goal from Mike Santorelli, and an insurance goal from David Clarkson (a tip of Rielly's shot). Here's your game in six:
Some thoughts on last night's game:
That PK is rolling. 10th fewest SA/60 as of yesterday, and they're leading for the highest SF/60 while on the PK. I have no idea if that will continue through the rest of the season, but it's definitely fun to watch. I was concerned about who would be playing forward on the PK, but it's nice that some of the depth players seem to be doing pretty well with it.
Speaking of depth players, it's nice to have the productive depth players that the Leafs have right now. At the start of this week, guys like Richard Panik and Santorelli have moved up and down the lineup and still remained relatively productive. It's nice to recognize the benefit of those offseason acquisitions - it stops the Leafs from having enforcers on the third line when injuries roll around. I'm pretty sure the last time the Leafs had four forwards injured, it led to Jarred Smithson being signed.
That first goal is frustrating to watch. Roman Polak doesn't challenge the shooter, doesn't get out of the way, and doesn't block the puck. Any of those options would've been more helpful, and I think it demonstrates the issue with being excessively passive. The only caveat here is that he may be playing it as a 2-on-1 with Curtis Lazar in the corner - I have no idea why Morgan Rielly drops his man to rush to cover the back door when the open man is down low. Polak contributed on the second goal against as well.
I don't think Morgan Rielly had a great game, either. He struggled in the defensive zone, and, like Polak, was on ice for both of the Senators' even strength goals making some questionable decisions. I'm glad he could convert on an offensive contribution late in the game,
I know it's not a controversial philosophy nowadays, but both Holland's and JVR's goals are good examples of "sometimes you get weird bounces." Two big bounces made one huge difference in how tonight's game went - that's all well and good, but you can't count on them night in and night out. But hey, funny things happen when you get pucks on net.
The Leafs will host the Bruins on Wednesday night (starting at 8 EST). We'll see if either Winnik or Booth will be ready to step back into the lineup before then.
