Tuesday was a night to forget for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Ottawa Senators sit just one game behind the Leafs in the Battle of Ontario, after silencing Scotiabank Arena with a 4-0 win over Toronto on Tuesday. The series now shifts back to the nation’s capital where the Senators have a chance to even it up.
Speaking to media post-game, captain Auston Matthews addressed the team’s loss.
“I thought the execution at times wasn’t there,” Matthews said. “Obviously they get the first goal and we were just kind of chasing the game from there. I thought we did good things, but in the end there’s little plays, executions, the small details. They made good on their chances and here we are.”
The story of this series has been the special teams, and that was certainly the case on Tuesday when Toronto’s power play once again failed to produce. Not only that, but an unforced error on the man advantage from Matthews led to a short-handed goal for the Senators – their second in the last two games. After the game, Matthews took full responsibility for the turnover.
“I just tried to find Mitchy up top and I thought we kind of drew them in. I didn’t see the guy there and he obviously picked it off. That’s on me, I gotta make a better play,” Matthews said.
No doubt they need to be better, as the smallest mistakes rarely go unpunished in the playoffs, and the Leafs are seeing that first hand. But it’s tough for a Toronto group that was clicking on the power play to start the series, with five goals through the first three games, and now none in their last two. To put it in even worse context, the Maple Leafs are now goalless in their last 30 power play opportunities in potential series-clinching games. Not a good look, and Matthews spoke about what they need to do to get back on track.
“I think we just gotta get back to simplicity,” Matthews said. “Outnumbering guys at the net, getting some pucks through and going from there. I thought we had good looks in the first one or two, some good chances, then I thought we just kind of got away from that.”
It was hardly anyone’s best performance on the Leafs Tuesday, as the team failed to land on the scoresheet for the first time this postseason. But Matthews in particular hasn’t looked quite like himself recently. Despite claims that he’s feeling fine, many suspect he may still be dealing with a lingering upper-body injury that kept him out of play a number of times this year.
Nevertheless, the Leafs will have to trudge on, and Matthews said they’re ready what’s next.
“We’ve been a good road team all season, I don’t think there’s any panic in this room,” the captain said. “We’re not looking in the rearview mirror, it’s about the next day, the next game … We’re a confident group in here, we gotta put this one behind us and learn from it.”
Toronto will now head to Ottawa with another chance to clinch the series on Thursday.
