The Maple Leafs 3-0 victory over Ottawa on Saturday was the type of winning effort that Toronto fans are not accustomed to seeing.

The injury riddled Senators, without stars Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson outhustled and outchanced the Blue and White, but thanks to fortuitous deflections by Frazer McLaren and Tyler Bozak, an empty netter from John-Michael Liles and a stellar 34 save performance from Ben Scrivens, the Leafs earned their second straight victory at Air Canada Center and fifth win in the last six games.

The contest marked another contest where Toronto’s foot soldiers were front and center, as Colton Orr saw nearly 13 minutes of ice time with Nazem Kadri and Clarke MacArthur in a move that effectively kept Sens pest Chris Neil in check.

The fourth line of Mike Brown, Jay McClement and McLaren played well in a limited role, creating traffic and crashing the net on their first shift, which resulted in McLaren’s first goal as a Leaf just 3:14 into the game.

The Marlie blueline contingent of Mike Kostka, Mark Fraser and Korbinian Holzer also stood out, averaging over 19 minutes of ice time taking some of the burden off of team captain Dion Phaneuf, whose ice time was just over 24 minutes.

With 22 players currently on their active roster, the impending return of defenseman Carl Gunnarsson will not necessitate a demotion to the Toronto Marlies, but it will give Randy Carlyle another healthy defenseman to choose from.

It is unlikely that Carlyle will stray from the three pairings that have carried the club through their recent winning ways. Veteran Mike Komisarek played well in his limited opportunity early in the season, but has been a healthy scratch for nearly two weeks.

Complicating things even further is the status of Jake Gardiner, who struggled after returning to the Leafs lineup in back to back games against Pittsburgh and New York Islanders in late January, but has regained his form after playing almost three weeks with the Toronto Marlies.

“I think he is ready to go” Marlies coach Dallas Eakins said following their 2-1 victory over the Hershey Bears Saturday afternoon.

The 22 year old Gardiner has three assists and is -1 in seven games since his demotion on January 30th, but more important than his stats is the appraisal of his performance from the Marlies coach.

“I think Jake’s been really good. He needed to get some games and the last three games….we’ve played five defensemen.” Eakins said “We want him to take big minutes, get his conditioning, get his coordination with the puck, his game back.”

With the Leafs not wanting to tinker with a winning combination at the moment, the need for Gardiner to be recalled is on hold.

“That’s the problem with pro sports, that big club has played very well.” Eakins said. “Those defensemen up there have played very well and sometimes you got to wait for your chance, whichever way it’s going to come.”

With teams like Detroit and Los Angeles in need of defensive help due to numerous injuries, the Leafs defensive logjam may provide GM Dave Nonis an opportunity to make a deal to address another area of need, but at this point, having depth on the blueline is a good problem to have.

Toronto plays the first of back to back games in the state of Florida on Monday, as they take on the Panthers at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, FL.

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