Senators stay alive as Jake Sanderson sinks Leafs in OT: Game 4 takeaways

By / / Sports / 5 minutes of reading


OTTAWA — The Battle of Ontario is heading back to Toronto.

In front of another rollicking crowd that featured more blue and white than Game 3, goals from Tim Stützle, Shane Pinto, David Perron and an overtime winner from Jake Sanderson helped the Ottawa Senators keep their season alive with a desperate and spirited 4-3 OT win to force Game 5.

With both a short-handed and power play goal, the Senators did well to win the special teams battle that the Leafs had previously won all series.

Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz looked average for the first time all series, allowing four goals on just 22 shots.

While the Leafs had flashes of brilliance, including Matthew Knies’ incredible second-period breakaway goal, the Senators stayed consistent in their play in a way the Leafs did not. The Senators now not only have a larger sliver of hope — they also have some momentum heading back to what could be a tense Scotiabank Arena for Game 5.

Here are some takeaways.

Senators win special teams battle

The first three games of the series were all about the Leafs’ dominance on special teams, particularly with a menacing five-forward power play. But things leveled off in Game 4. The Senators killing the Leafs four-minute power play in overtime was massive.

The Senators got shorthanded (Pinto) and power play (Stützle) goals past Stolarz midway through the first period. The Leafs went 0-4 on the power play.

Max Domi’s completely unnecessary roughing penalty during a face-off in the first period ended up costing the Leafs early. The Leafs needed to be more disciplined in Game 4. They weren’t. Moving forward, avoiding these kinds of penalties will be high on coach Craig Berube’s priority list.

If this series is any indication, the Leafs are going to rely heavily on their power play for any kind of deep playoff run. It’s worth wondering if this was an off night or the team’s power play coming back down to Earth.

Leafs can’t close out series

A reminder: Coming into this game, this Leafs’ core’s playoff record with the opportunity to win a series? One win, 10 losses.

Add another loss to that tally. While the Senators played with energy, the Leafs were caught flat-footed too often.

There’s been more talk lately of “killer instinct” around this team over the past few days, just as there was when the Leafs blew a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens in 2021. And while you can debate the merits of the term, what can’t be debated is that the Leafs’ record with the opportunity to advance in the playoffs is ugly. They knew they’d get the hardest effort of the series from the Senators and that proved true.

Another buzzword that’s been brought up as of late: Are things truly “different” with this team? What ends up happening when these playoffs are all said and done will answer that question.

The Leafs deserve credit for jumping to a 3-0 series lead. But in Game 4, things didn’t look all that different from recent playoff failures.

Linus Ullmark gets a win

Linus Ullmark finally got the best of Stolarz in this series. Despite the three goals allowed, this will go down as his best game this spring. 31 saves on 34 shot, including a key sprawling save in the third (with an assist from Tyler Kleven’s stick to clear it away from the blue paint). But his most important work came in overtime as the Sens fought off a double-minor penalty from Drake Batherson.

Travis Green gave his netminder a vote of confidence pregame.

“First game, he probably didn’t like his game,” Senators coach Travis Green said ahead of Game 4. “I thought the next two games, he’s been pretty good. He hasn’t faced a lot of shots. He’s had a couple of funny goals go into the net. And the ones that have beat him, he’s probably been screened on, really. Minus the (Auston) Matthews goal which was a bang-bang play.”

If the Senators want to build on Saturday’s win and come back in this series, they may need Ullmark to steal a game. At the very least, he must remain at his best. He has allowed at least three goals in every game so far.

Leafs top line dominance

While it wasn’t always evident on the score sheet as it was in, say, Game 1, the Leafs’ top line of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Knies was by far their most dominant.

They crushed the competition in five-on-five expected goals and looked defensively resolute as well. Knies’ overpowering breakaway goal — with an assist from Marner, his seventh point in four games — seemed to spark his team.

Berube has praised his team’s buy-in to his physical, checking style more than usual lately. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who he’s referring to in particular: all three players on the Leafs’ top line played a strong 200-foot game in Game 4. They pulled their team back into the fight after an ugly first period.

William Nylander also deserves a shout here for his constantly creative play in Game 4. His excellent pass to Ekman-Larsson on the game-tying goal was a season highlight for him.

Yes, a little more offence would have helped the Leafs’ cause. But there’s certainly reason to feel good about the Leafs’ top line heading into Game 5.

(Photo of Senators celebrating Shane Pinto’s first-period goal: André Ringuette / NHLI via Getty Images)





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