If the Toronto Maple Leafs could play the Ottawa Senators 82 times, they would be readying themselves for the post-season rather than pondering where they will pick in the NHL Draft.
For the second time in eight days, the Maple Leafs put forth an energetic effort not commonly seen in the last three months to take valuable points away from their provincial rival, who trail Boston, Pittsburgh and Detroit by two points for an Eastern Conference playoff spot with one week to go in the season.
Joffrey Lupul scored his first goal since December 20th, James van Riemsdyk scored in his third straight game and Peter Holland added an assist and the game-winner in the seventh round of the shootout to break Jonathan Bernier’s personal seven-game losing skid.
Bernier gave the Leafs their second solid goaltending performance of the weekend following James Reimer’s 49-save effort in Saturday’s loss in Boston with 43 saves against the Senators.
Close But No Cigar….Marc Methot’s shot in OT goes just wide of the post. Sens lose to the Maple Leafs 3-2 in a shootout.
While the Leafs were clearly relished playing the spoiler and hindering Ottawa’s post-season chances, their weekend performances did nothing but endanger the only consequential goal to be accomplished this season, as the three points earned against the Bruins and Sens moved Toronto to within two points of the Carolina Hurricanes in the overall NHL standings.
Carolina has two games in hand and will use one of them up in Buffalo on Monday, taking on the last place Buffalo Sabres. A Canes win in regulation would guarantee the Sabres finishing 30th overall and being in a position to draft Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel this June and would also decrease the magic number to one for the Leafs to lock up 27th, which means that the majority of the fan bases on the Niagara Peninsula will be rooting for Eric and Jordan Staal to have big nights at First Niagara Center.
*******
McEichel Race – Points(Games Played)
8. COLUMBUS 82(78), 7. PHILADELPHIA 82(79), 6. NEW JERSEY 77(79), 5. CAROLINA 69(78), 4. TORONTO 67(80), 3. EDMONTON 59(79), 2. ARIZONA 56(79), 1. BUFFALO 52(79)
Current Leafs odds at winning Draft Lottery(9.5%) Same
*******
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast that the Boston Bruins may move injured center Marc Savard to free up cap space and help other teams reach the cap floor next season. Savard has not played since 2011 and will not return to the NHL due to concussion symptoms, but the attractive aspect of his deal is that the cap hit for the two years remaining is slightly over $4 Million per season, but in actual dollars is $575,000 each year.
Budget teams or clubs in the midst of a rebuild who do not want to sign free agents for multiple years could opt to trade for Savard to occupy a large chunk of cap space, which might interest the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are expected to move big ticket players like Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak in the summer.
This type of move could also be used by the Leafs with injured winger Nathan Horton, who is also likely not to play again due to a degenerative back problem.
Horton has five years at a $5.3 Million cap hit per season, but unlike Savard diminishing salary has $26.1 Million remaining on his deal. His cap hit will count against the cap if the Leafs do not exceed 2015 cap ceiling, but if a club with deep pockets like the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers is up against the cap and needed the additional room to sign another player, trading for Horton would allow them to go above the cap ceiling.
It is an unlikely scenario, since there are not many teams that would be willing to take the financial hit, but no one thought being able to find a taker for David Clarkson was likely.
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.