How the Senators can beat the Maple Leafs in Game 3
The scoreboard is a little onesided in the first postseason edition of the Battle of Ontario in 21 years. However, the underdogs still have a chance to turn things around.
The Ottawa Senators are in a tough spot heading into Game 3 on Thursday night. Despite playing an exceptional game on Tuesday night, they still fell in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs, falling into a two-game hole. However, as the series shifts to Kanata for the first time, the Senators have an opportunity to get back in the series if they can find success on home ice.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, DFO’s Matt Larkin joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli to discuss what the Senators need to do to get back into the series.
Matt Larkin: It starts with drawing first blood. If you can score and get the Leafs back on their heels – because the Leafs have quietly been a very good road team, even during these disappointments. They’re 6-3 on the road in the playoffs in the last two years. So, you need to get them wavering in their confidence – little indecisive and jittery. I think you have to ride the crowd. Yes, there’s going to be a lot of Leaf fans at Canadian Tire Centre as well, but the Sens’ fans are going to be louder. It’s still going to be a larger contingent – first playoff game there in eight years. So, there’s gonna be a lot of energy. You need to ride it.
I also think you have to find a way to get higher-quality looks. More pucks from higher danger areas because even Anthony Stolarz – there was a little bit of shade thrown at the Senators. He said, “Yeah, they were throwing a lot of junk at the net. I think my guys did a really good job just making sure nothing got through.” The blocks are 50-18 for the Leafs in this series. So, Ottawa is going to have to find a way. If you look at the heat map, the Leafs: it’s all around the net. Ottawa: it’s all around the perimeter. So, they’re kind of Corsi-ing their way to some good numbers. Travis Green’s been on and on about 5-on-5 is good, but the actual quality of the looks have not been there yet.
Overall, they just don’t have the same firepower as the Leafs do, and it really is evident in their finishing ability. So, you’ve got to find a way to penetrate and get actual high-quality looks on Anthony Stolarz.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…