No late heroics needed as Senators crunch Leafs
This time they didn’t have to mount a dramatic comeback.
Just six games ago and two weeks ago, the Ottawa Senators were coming off a 7-2 pounding by the Philadelphia Flyers.
That prompted a 20-minute-long, soul-searching, players-only meeting.
It must have worked.
With Sunday’s 3-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Senators have won six games in a row for the first time since the 2009-10 National Hockey League season.
As much as it pleases coach Paul MacLean, though, it also surprises him. After that 7-2 loss, he couldn’t have imagined the Senators would run off six in a row.
“Well, realistically speaking, no,” he said.
“But the fact that it has happened is outstanding. Our team has showed a lot of resiliency and character in the 12 games we’ve played. We’ve handled adversity, we’ve faced adversity, we’ve caused our own adversity.
“We’ve kind of been up and down the hill, but it’s a learning process, and we know that, at one time, it’s going to come to an end and we’re going to have to get back on the horse and do it again.”
Colin Greening, Chris Neil, Kaspars Daugavins, with his first NHL goal (and point), scored for the Senators. The goals by Greening and Neil were on the power play, as the Senators (7-5-0) went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
Daugavins just missed getting his first point in Saturday’s win over the Rangers. He was happy to wait to get Sunday’s winning goal. He got the puck as a souvenir.
“Obviously it helped the team a lot to score that goal,” he said.
“I was lucky to score it and help the team win the game. It’s going to be a lifetime memory and it’s good to have a win over the Maple Leafs.”
Before a crowd of 19,522, Clarke MacArthur scored two goals for the Maple Leafs (7-3-1).
Robin Lehner, in a surprise start after being called up from Binghamton of the Amreican Hockey League on Friday, faced 25 shots for the Senators, while the Maple Leafs’ Jonas Gustavsson faced a total of 30.
“I didn’t have much to do,” said Lehner, who did in fact have to make a couple of key saves in the third period.
“The guys did such a good job in front of me. It always takes a little bit of practice time when you go from the AHL up to the NHL because it’s different shots and different speeds, but I just tried to do my best, and I’m happy with the win.”
After the game, MacLean said the Senators would be following the NHL’s concussion protocol with captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was checked in the head by the New York Rangers’ Wojtek Wolski on Saturday, meaning Alfredsson is likely out of action for at least the next week.
Coming from behind
The Senators have been full value over this recent stretch of success.
In their previous four games before Sunday’s, they had came back to win three times. In the fourth, against the Carolina Hurricanes, they blew a lead in the last five minutes, but won in a shootout.
Saturday’s triumph against the Rangers marked only the second time in the team’s modern history that the Senators had come back from a three-goal deficit to win.
The other comeback was a 7-6 overtime win at Winnipeg on Nov. 5, 1993, when Bob Kudelski had a hat trick.
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WHY SENATORS WON: They didnt get down after letting the Leafs score the first goal of the game and then surged to a 3-1 lead.
STUD: Robin Lehner. He got tossed in unexpectedly and outdueled his Swedish counterpart to get a home win.
DUD: Jonas Gustavsson. Not to take away anything from Daugavins, who has been playing terrifically since arriving from Bingo, but his shot was from the top of the right circle. NHL goalies should stop those.
TURNING POINT: Greening’s breakaway goal off a long pass from David Rundblad lifted the Senators into the game and kept them there.
See the difference between this year and years past is that the fans aren’t putting the same pressure and expectations on the players to win. Fans are happy to just be able to watch some fast paced exciting hockey and if some wins come along the way even better. I by no means think they are a contender YET, but they are growing nicely as a young team and I look forward to the rest of the season.
Sorry Leafs fans, but thanks for spending your money on Senators tickets!
No dumb comments from traitors in Ottawa?
Leafs fans are afraid to comment, they know the hot start is just that and the Leafs will be back out of the playoff race after Christmas. The Sens may be as well but we have enough class to enjoy the teams run and not try to shove it down anyone’s throat!
Go Sens!
sens crunch leafs dont know if they actually watched the game but toronto was pretty dominate in this game sens got one lucky goal which was the difference. I like ottawa good for the 5 game win streak but really make it sound like ottawa was the actual better hockey team in the past couple of games is a joke they have been getting lucky for 3 straight games like watch a game
1 maybe 2 games could be chalked up to luck, but 3 – 4 come from behind wins in a short period of time is more than luck.
Skill, speed, character and hard work dude, that’s more than luck.