Boy oh boy.
I don’t understand how, but the Senators just have the Maple Leafs number this season. With a 4-2 win over Toronto tonight, Ottawa was able to at least get a bit of a laugh in a season that has been anything but fun. Senators fans know that their team is horrendous, but that’s what has made the Battle of Ontario entertaining recently: there is just no downside because if Toronto wins, that’s expected. But if they lose, then you can bet that Ottawa fans will be making as many jokes as possible in order to have some sort of enjoyment.
After their win tonight, Ottawa is 3-1-0 against Toronto this season, and they outscored them 19-12 overall. Of course, it’s not as if the Senators deserved to win all of these games, as they were out-attempted tonight by a ratio of literally 2:1...72-36 at even strength. The Leafs are clearly the superior team that has a chance to go deep in the playoffs, but for some reason they were unable to finish their chances. Furthermore, backup goaltender Garret Sparks could not stop a puck along the ice:
Magnus makes it 2-0. #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/hckh26p29K
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 31, 2019
🚀 #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/xjueEIywpX
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 31, 2019
It was no surprise to see the crowd at the CTC be seemingly 80% Leafs fans, and it must have been frustrating for the Senators players. I mean, just look at the crowd in the background on this goal…
This crowd reaction is just incredible pic.twitter.com/GK9J6FdrQQ
— Trevor Shackles (@ShackTS) March 31, 2019
But that’s what made this game fun. The fact that thousands of Leafs fans showed up to the game expecting an easy victory, yet they left disappointed.
Just like the previous 6-2 drubbing a few weeks ago, the goal scorers for Ottawa made the end result even more amusing. Their second goal came from Magnus Paajarvi, who now has a whopping five goals and one assist in four games against Toronto this season, which must be irritating to no end for Leafs fans. Toronto scored two goals in quick succession in the third period to tie it up at two, and it was looking like they were going to prevail after trailing most of the game. However, noted offensive phenom Cody Ceci was able to snipe home his seventh of the season to give the Senators the 3-2 lead:
Snipe. #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/smoQ0ZanQ0
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 31, 2019
So Ceci has two nice goals against Toronto this season, and some of the best offensive performers against them have been Ceci, Zack Smith, and Magnus Paajarvi. Not exactly star players. But that is what made tonight fun, because the potential for banter is fantastic.
It’s great for the young players like Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Colin White, Rudolfs Balcers, Christian Wolanin, and Max Veronneau to experience success in this rivalry too, as going through experiences like this together can be important for team building down the line. Chabot always seems to play well against Toronto too, and Tkachuk looked like someone ready for a greater challenge as well. So beating the Leafs three times this season might not seem very important, although it has to be a confidence booster for many of their players.
Over the past 20 games, the Senators are also 14-4-2 vs. the Maple Leafs, which is almost hard to believe. Beating Toronto and Montreal is essentially all that fans have to cheer for this season, so at least there have been some good games in that sense. The Battle of Ontario rivalry might not be heated for another few years, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun in the meantime.