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For the fifth straight game, the Leafs were badly out-chanced in the opening period.

Ottawa dominated proceedings, getting ten of the eleven chances and beating the Leafs 7-1 at ES, including two goals. The Leafs managed to show some good fight in the second. After an early exchange of goals, Toronto carried the play, and were rewarded with a pair of goals. A costly power-play marker for Ottawa in the last minute of the period put the Sens back ahead, and Toronto weren’t able to keep up the pressure in the third, as Ottawa had almost all the chances. The Leafs did very little to threaten the Ottawa net as they chased the lead, and didn’t get an equalizer.

StatusOverallEven StrengthES Close
TeamTOROTT%TOROTT%TOROTT%
11109.1%1712.5%1325.0%
29469.2%6275.0%4180.0%
33730.0%2433.3%00-
Total132138.2%91340.9%5455.6%

That strong second period helped the Leafs win the ES Close chance battle, but they generated only three chances while chasing a lead in the third. The Senators also had a lot of power-play time, and eight of their twenty-one chances came with the extra man.

ClubStPTimeTScOscNoteTorontoOttawa
OTTSH115:2300Michalek from Wiercioch232023334-93619466530
OTTSH115:1500Stone deflects Karlsson shot232023334-93619466530
OTTSH113:2700Stone deflects Turris shot234735734-7619466530
OTTES111:0000Ceci from Pageau4281214451342744223530
OTTES106:4000GOAL! Hoffman from Chiasson1522472443417689036530
TORES105:3301Kessel from Van Riemsdyk42812123347619627430
OTTES103:5401GOAL! Karlsson from Zibanejad2319205157349362636530
OTTES102:4902Turris wraparound428121233472261627430
OTTES101:2502Karlsson drives23192033573417689036530
OTTES101:0702Hoffman drives23192033573417689036530
OTTES100:4202Ryan from Hoffmann23812123346893654630
TORES217:1802GOAL! Lindstrom deflects Phaneuf shot1553672334176890627430
OTTES216:5112GOAL! Lazar from Pageau231920233427442236530
OTTES216:3313Condra wide from loose puck42812133574527442236530
TORES215:3013GOAL! Komarov from Sill224718445145766154630
TORES214:0723Kessel from MacWilliam428121335745176861627430
TORPP212:2323Van Riemsdyk drives428121344454422627430-
TORPP211:2223Van Riemsdyk deflects Rielly shot42812134445176157430-
TORPP210:5623Bozak drives4218193351457273530-
TORES209:3623Booth wraparound22232025745689390466530
TORES204:5523Van Riemsdyk drives wide4281214451457689036530
TORES204:3423Kessel deflects Erixon shot wide4281214451457686136530
OTTSH201:0333Turris from Legwand234725745-71761466530
OTTSH200:5233GOAL! Turris from Karlsson234725745-71761466530
OTTES319:3634Chiasson drives42812123457619036530
OTTSH316:1434Legwand from Turris234735745-71768616530
OTTSH314:5634Ryan drives wide424735745-2744654630
OTTES310:2534Ryan from Zibanejad4281212514568936627430
TORES308:2934Rielly drives42812144514527442236530
OTTSH307:4534Hoffman from faceoff42202345-71768616530
OTTES306:1734Ryan from Karlsson42182133574593690466530
OTTES303:3334Lazar drives5381213334527442236530
TORES302:2534Bozak deflects Kessel shot wide42812144514527442254630
TOREN300:5234Van Riemsdyk from loose puck424781213447176136530

Player-by-Player data:

PlayerOverallEven StrengthES Close
ForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiff
Brewer311-822:1036-317:40220
Phaneuf59-424:0025-316:54110
Lindstrom11005:1611005:1601-1
Panik21110:2611008:05000
Lupul14-312:4904-412:0502-2
Booth17-617:4314-314:0012-1
Van Riemsdyk98123:1268-221:46413
Sill21108:0821107:27110
Smith111-1021:2915-415:0312-1
Erixon27-515:3515-411:30101
Bozak108222:3966019:54413
Rielly82619:2052318:04220
Komarov26-413:1211007:1901-1
Gardiner63320:2053219:36220
Carrick11006:4311006:16000
MacWilliam210-818:3525-312:34211
Kozun10105:5610105:56000
Kessel97223:0267-121:46413
Reimer211-923:0928-619:0914-3
Bernier1010036:2575228:34404

The top line had a good rebound after a terrible game on Thursday, as they were the best line in terms of chances tonight. The big three were the only forwards that were in the positive at ES Close, and all were on for six Leaf ES chances. While they were also on for a lot of Sens chances, they managed to finish near even, with Bozak the only regular forward not in the negative at ES overall. On the other hand, Lupul’s line with Smith and Booth was poor. Lupul himself was not on for a Leaf chance at ES, and all three were -3 or worse, including being on for two Sens goals. The other two lines did well, generating a couple of the goals and finishing even.

In his 1000th game, Eric Brewer wasn’t particularly impressive, as he was -3 in chances at even strength. That didn’t make him standout, as Dion Phaneuf and Andrew MacWilliam also finished at that number, and Tim Erixon was -4 in eleven ES minutes. MacWilliam did have the most defensive zone starts on the back end, which may explain his performance. Rielly and Gardiner were the exception to these defensive struggles, as both had strong games. Rielly led the team by finishing +3 at ES, and Gardiner was not far behind at +2 while leading the defence in ES ice time. In contrast to MacWilliam, those two had the most friendly zone start ratios, which likely helped their chance numbers.

Cumulative numbers this season:

OverallPos#Even StrengthES Close
ForAgainst%TOIForAgainst%
SillF13192246.3%06:549852.9%
KadriF6632234248.5%14:5119218950.4%
PolakD5628634645.3%17:5417418848.1%
RiellyD7239144047.1%16:5021224146.8%
KomarovF5417417350.1%11:578810146.6%
BernierG5268680745.9%44:2242148546.5%
PanikF6718320447.3%10:1110011746.1%
GardinerD7035840047.2%17:5419422846.0%
PhaneufD6133040445.0%17:0419123045.4%
LupulF4618624443.3%13:1910012344.8%
KesselF7337844246.1%14:5921326444.7%
BozakF7335642445.6%14:4518924443.6%
SmithF4911513645.8%09:10658543.3%
Van RiemsdykF7333845042.9%14:4619626842.2%
HollandF5916523441.4%11:368712042.0%
ReimerG3036746044.4%41:4416523441.4%
BoothF5011716841.1%10:126310836.8%
RobidasD5219226741.8%14:449316336.3%
CarrickF12132633.3%06:34112035.5%
KozunF18224433.3%07:0992130.0%

Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner have had some of the easier zone starts and competition on the defense this season, but they have been solid in those minutes, particularly in the second half of the season, where they’ve had somewhat tougher workloads as the Leafs have seen their defence totally change. Brewer, who is still a couple of games short of making the table, has gotten similar minutes to Roman Polak since his debut. While Polak managed to be solidly in the mid-40% range in terms of chances, Brewer’s numbers so far are sub-40%.