Tonight the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the Ottawa Senators at the Air Canada Center. The Maple Leaf coming into this game recorded a 3-2 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. While the Senators got smashed in Buffalo, losing 5-1 for their 4th straight loss on Friday.
Game Recap:
In the first period there was a lot of conservative play from both sides. so the hooking, diving, roughing penalties along with a great fight between Mike Brown and Zenon Konopka were the highlights of the frame. But Tyler Bozak changed that all when his score later in the first period; the goal was assisted by Phil Kessel and Luke Schenn.
In the second period the Senators took control with two goals of their own, when mid way through the frame Sergei Gonchar tied the game up. Then unfortunately the leafs took back to back penalties, which was the cause of Nick Folingo scoring the power play goal to put the Senators up 2-1.
Senator continues their strong play in the 3rd when the team came out hard and was able to get the 3-1 courtesy of Zack Smith’s unassisted play. A chance presented itself for the Maple Leafs when Chris Phillips got a penalty for interference 4:25 into the period. The power play was producing chances, but Ottawa’s penalty kill stood the test and was even better. With 3 minutes left in the frame the Maple Leafs got a little close during a huge rugby scrum, when Joffrey Lupul was able to bang the puck off a leg from behind the net. But two empty net goal for the Senators, one which was scored by Clarke MacArthur, finished off the game.
Positives Lupul continued his great start to the season, as he scored his 9th goal of the season tonight.
Negatives It was a tough lost against the Florida Panthers team on Tuesday. But the lost tonight was even worst in my opinion because Ottawa lost 4 straight coming into this game and they were coming off a Friday evening loss as well.
Rant Sports Toronto Maple Leafs Feature Writer
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