After struggling to generating scoring chances in their overtime victory over Montreal in the season opener, the Toronto Maple Leafs were more effective against Ottawa on Saturday, but were undone by questionable defense and less than stellar goaltending from Frederik Andersen in a 5-3 loss to the Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs generated 37 shots against the Sens, but were stymied by veteran Craig Anderson, who made 34 saves(including stopping Mitch Marner on a penalty shot), while the Leafs goaltender allowed four goals on 23 shots in the loss.
“I thought (Andersen) was pretty good in Game 1 and tonight didn't go his way.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “Our record is probably what we deserve and [the results] probably should have been in a different order. The one thing about this game is you're in it together all the time. We've all got to be better if we want to have success.”
Ottawa took the lead on a Dylan DeMelo goal that went between the legs of Andersen from long range, but Toronto tied the game with pair of goals 41 seconds apart from Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews early in the second period.
The Leafs surrendered the lead less than three minutes later on a complete defensive breakdown in which Jake Gardiner drifted out of position and Tyler Ennis got walked around by rookie Thomas Chabot and an offensive zone turnover by Connor Brown that led to Chris Tierney’s tally 38 seconds later.
Marner tied the game on the power play late in the middle frame, but Chabot struck 1:42 into the third, undressing rookie Igor Ozhiganov and beating Andersen for the game-winner.
“Moving forward it’s important to stay focused on the process and worry about things that we can get better at that will lead to long term success.” Rielly said after the game. “Obviously, we’re not happy with the outcome but there are things we can take away and move forward and learn from.”
Babcock indicated that there could be some lineup changes for the second of back-to-back games in Chicago other than Garret Sparks in goal, but decided to just subbing Martin Marincin in for Ozhiganov, who went -2 in 12:38 in his second NHL game.
Marincin is expected to play on the bottom pairing alongside Travis Dermott and will likely see some time on the penalty killing units, as veterans Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev have been used heavily in the first two games while shorthanded.
“(Ozhiganov) has been great, but we didn’t think he was as good last night.” Babcock said. “The biggest thing about taking people in and out is confidence. Confidence is the hardest thing in pro sport, and you’ve to be confident to play well. We want him to make plays and continue to progress like he has.”
The club is carrying eight blueliners and it appears that Babcock is going to implement a rotation early in the season as he did last year with Calle Rosen, Connor Carrick, Andreas Borgman and Roman Polak before settling on Polak and calling up Travis Dermott midway through the season. That likely means that you will see Justin Holl in the near future and Ozhiganov again when Marincin displays his all-too-familiar Marincin-like qualities.
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