Game-day Review #2: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night

In a game where the Senators were badly outplayed, they managed to keep the game close with a hard push in the third period where they nearly tied the game.

There weren’t a ton of positives to take away from this game, but the few that were really stood out.

The Good

Tim Stützle

How could I not start with this? Stützle scored his first career NHL goal on Jack Campbell and it was a thing of beauty:

This for sure brought all Senators fans out of their seats, the tremendous display of hand-eye coordination as Stützle picked the puck clean off of the hop was truly special.

Stützle mentioned after the game that the goal was exciting but he was disappointed the team couldn’t pull out the win. The character, skill and pure will that Stützle possesses should have Sens fans ecstatic for a future around Timmy Süperstar.

Matt Murray

Playing on a second-half of a back-to-back is never easy for a goaltender but Murray didn’t look like he just came off a game the night prior. Without a doubt the best player on the Senators last night, Murray stopped 37/40 shots good for a 0.925 SV% and was the only reason the game stayed close.

The Bad

Possession

The Leafs had their way with the Senators throughout the game and most of the play was spent in Ottawa’s zone. The Senators struggled to gain possession and when they did it was usually short lived, the speed and skill of the Leafs seemed to be too much for long stretches of time when Ottawa just couldn’t clear their zone.

The game concluded with Tim Stützle and Thomas Chabot tied for the team-lead at a CF% of 44.4%, when you don’t have a player over 50% CF%, it’s easy to tell which team dominated play.

The Ugly

Cedric Paquette

A horrible performance from the Senators fourth-line winger, Paquette was either hemmed in his own end or was taking stupid penalties. He closed his hand on a puck in the defensive zone and took a penalty sending the Leafs to a long 5 on 3, just something you cannot do.

On top of all that, Paquette was last on the team in CF% with a 6.25% rating, yes you read that right 6.25%! When Paquette was on the ice at 5v5 the Leafs had 15 shots to the Senators 1, it was seemingly like they were playing short-handed when he was on the ice. D.J. Smith should explore playing Alex Galchenyuk in place of Paquette after his abysmal performance.