While the Maple Leafs have been talking a lot lately about getting off to better starts, they must not lose sight of how they finish games.
The Maple Leafs blew a third-period lead and dropped a 6-3 decision Saturday night to the Ottawa Senators in a key divisional matchup with playoff spot implications.
The Leafs got off to one of those bad starts again but rallied to take a 3-2 lead early in the third period —a crazy third period — on a power-play goal from William Nylander.
Second-period goals from Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri erased a first-period deficit built on goals by the Senators’ Chris Wideman and Ryan Dzingel.
When Nylander scored on a wicked wrist shot at 2:04 of the third, it looked as if the Leafs were going to chase some demons and get away with the win.
But almost as quickly as they gained the lead, they gave it back with goals by Mike Hoffman at 5:32 and Derrick Brassard at 6:26.
It made for a mad-cap finish. But a pair of empty netters (Mark Stone and Brassard) sealed the win for Ottawa, while the Leafs lost their fourth straight (0-3-1). Toronto plays Sunday in Carolina.
Winger Mitch Marner was scratched for the first time in his NHL career, and will also miss Sunday’s game in Carolina, due to an upper body injury, believed to be his shoulder. He injured it Wednesday in Columbus.
The Battle of Ontario games had been a shadow of their former selves in recent years, with the Leafs not holding up their end of the bargain.
But this year has been different, starting with Auston Matthews’ four-goal debut in Ottawa on Oct. 12 and extending to Saturday night’s tilt that had both teams chasing playoff spots in the Atlantic Division. The night started with the Leafs holding the second wild-card spot in the East, trailing Ottawa by three points. The Senators were second in the Atlantic.
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen it, it’s definitely exciting,” Kadri said. “Canadian teams in general, it’s exciting to fans of any Canadian team right now, especially teams making a push here.
“This is the time of year. We’re going to see team’s best efforts.”
Fans around the Leafs certainly have been louder and prouder this year. Even Hall of Famer Frank Mahovlich has noticed it.
“Everybody seems so positive about this team,” said Mahovlich during a first-period interview to discuss his induction to the team’s Legends Row. “This is the excitement Toronto is in right now. I hope it keeps up.”
For the last couple of weeks, the Leafs have been dogged by bad starts.
It’s become a focal point of interviews before and after games. And there’s no real solution. It’s not like there’s an on-off button that can be pressed.
“I think sometimes we’re talking about scoring first versus whether your start was good,” said Babcock. “The idea is we want to score first every night.”
But when the Senators opened the scoring, it was the fourth time in five games the opposition had struck first.
Both of Ottawa’s first-period goals came off a part of Rielly’s body.
Toronto tied it in 2-2 with a pair of late goals in the second. Rielly erased his “goat” status with Toronto’s first goal on a long wrist shot at 14:38.
Kadri scored his 24th of the year at 17:52 after a flurry of activity. His hard shot from behind the Ottawa net bounced off the upper body of a sprawled Dzingel to tie the game.
NOTES: The Leafs acquired centre Sergey Kalinin from the New Jersey Devils for minor-league defenceman Viktor Loov. Kalinin was sent to the Marlies.
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