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McElhinney, young Leafs hungrier than Senators on Saturday night

January 15, 2017, 9:11 AM ET [21 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Ottawa Senators did what the Ottawa Senators do - follow up a great performance with a mediocre one.

They were beaten by a waiver wire pickup who had tape over the logos of his previous team and Maple Leafs stickers placed over it, in Curtis McElhinney, and a group of kids who simply wanted it more.

They were also outcoached, and the Leafs simply paid closer attention to detail. Case in point the fact that they were losing draws on regular basis so Auston Matthews simply let it happen and stepped around Jean-Gabriel Pageau for the insurance marker in the 4-2 win. If Pageau had taken his man after winning the draw, or if the trimverant of Cody Ceci, Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt had taken Connor Brown on the play, the fourth goal would not have happened.

As I said in yesterday's preview, the Leafs' special teams are ranked #1 in each category on the road, and that played a role in this one. In a game where special teams were not overly prevalent, with one power play aside, the Leafs made theirs count and the Senators couldn't return the favor later on at a point where they were had just fallen behind early in the third period and a goal would have been a massive momentum swing in the Senators favor.

It was also a game that Mike Condon would like to forget, as each of the first two goals were of the questionable variety as he left open some holes that you wouldn't expect him to. The Senators have shown that they have relied on great goaltending, and average netminding is simply not good enough.

The Leafs also capitalized on Ottawa's mistakes and poor defensive zone coverage, while the Senators couldn't do the same. Even the highlight save of McElhinney's night, off Ryan Dzingel was more of a case of the Senators forward misplaying the puck into his pads while half of an empty net was staring him in the face.

The Leafs deserve full marks for the win, and the Senators still have some searching to do to find the ability to bring their "A" game on a more regular basis because that wasn't the same team that shut down the Pens two days earlier.

The Senators are now find themselves on the outside looking in on the playoffs at the moment, with the Leafs holding the tiebreaker on themselves and the Panthers, whose win last night also drew them into a tie for the last playoff spot. Yes, there is the factor of five games in hand on the Bruins, but they have to win those games to make them matter.

The Senators now hit the road for three games, starting in St. Louis on Tuesday, followed by a visit to Columbus Thursday and a return engagement in Toronto for another Hockey Night in Canada match-up.


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