Leafs Jump Ahead In Battle of Ontario

Just when you least expect it, the Maple Leafs jump up and steal games that they, theoretically, have no business winning. With all star centre Mats Sundin out of the lineup with a reported hip injury suffered in game four, going into game five against a Senators team that had picked up a lot of confidence and momentum with their convincing win in the last game did not seem to be a very good situation for the Maple Leafs. However, as they did two years ago in the playoffs with Sundin not in the lineup, the team rose to the challenge and shut the Senators down to jump ahead to a 3-2 series lead.

With Sundin out of the lineup, it looked as though the Leafs really attempted to simplify the game and concentrate on doing the little things on the defensive side of the game that can help to win games. Each player stepped and made a strong contribution in game five by doing the things that they are good at. Nobody tried to start a run and gun style of game against a Senators team that surely would have beaten them if the Leafs had given them enough room to manoeuvre. The Maple Leafs also did a fairly good job of cutting down on the time spent in the penalty box, especially Nik Antropov who managed to go the entire game without taking a penalty.

The game was extremely tight checking and conservatively played by both teams throughout the first two periods. In fact, the Leafs had only managed six shots after forty minutes of play. In the third, Tie Domi caught an early break as his shot deflected off Senators’ netminder, Patrick Lalime’s pad and hit Bryan Smolinski’s skate redirecting it into the Senators goal for a 1-0 lead. The Leafs seemed to intensify their tight checking style on this night after that goal allowing the Senators few quality scoring chances down the stretch. The play opened up as Ottawa defensemen continued to pinch into the offence attempting to create chances. Tomas Kaberle and Joe Nieuwendyk took advantage of this extra space on a two on one with five minutes left as the two combined for the insurance marker for the Leafs. With that goal, the Leafs have won three games in this series, each by a score of 2-0.

Several lineup changes were made for tonight’s game as well. Mikael Renberg, Mats Sundin and Calle Johansson were scratched in favour of Joe Nieuwendyk, Matt Stajan and Aki Berg, each of whom had strong games. The Leafs will now travel back to Ottawa for game six on Sunday night with the opportunity to wrap up the series with the Senators.