Leafs Hand Back The Humiliation

After a humiliating 7-1 loss at the hands of the Ottawa Senators back on January 8th infront of the home crowd, the Maple Leafs returned the humiliation with a convincing 5-1 on Saturday. In hindsight, it is somewhat laughable that the Senators only managed a 7-1 defeat against a team that had so many key regulars including Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Alex Mogilny and Ed Belfour out of the lineup compared with a 5-1 defeat for the Leafs against an Ottawa team with a fairly healthy lineup.

Mats Sundin was a real factor in Saturday’s game as he scored the game winning goal on a five on three advantage and registered two assists coming on the Leafs first goal near the end of the first period and fifth goal with less than a minute remaining in the game. Along with his offensive production, Sundin had a great presence on the defensive end showing he is capable of contributing in big games, something he has been accused of not doing especially in the home and home series with the Flyers. In reality though, did anybody produce in those games? Sundin takes a lot of unfair criticism whenever the team has a tough stretch. This is criticism Sundin certainly does not deserve as he plays a big part in most games the Leafs win.

The Maple Leafs penalty killing unit gave the team a chance to win as they killed off thirteen of fourteen power play opportunities against one of the most proficient power plays in the league. Darcy Tucker and Tom Fitzgerald, two of the Leafs best penalty killers, were both out of the lineup on Saturday which forced the Leafs to use a penalty killing by committee style with so many usual penalty killers out of the lineup. All but six Leaf players saw at least three minutes of penalty killing time making this penalty killing success a remarkable achievement.

Ed Belfour was excellent for the Maple Leafs as he made numerous difficult saves when the score was tied. He was also stellar on the penalty kill despite causing two of the penalties himself by chopping down Senators in front of him with his goal stick.

The Maple Leafs will take on the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow and the Senators again on Thursday. The importance of these next two games for the Maple Leafs goes without saying; however, they will likely have to play them without Joe Nieuwendyk as he suffered a pelvic injury in Saturday’s game.