Maple Leafs lose to Senators, fail to keep pace in Atlantic race
via NHL.com
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost ground in the Atlantic Division race when they were defeated 6-2 by the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.
Morgan Rielly and John Tavares scored, and Sparks made 38 saves for Toronto (43-24-5), which fell four points behind the Boston Bruins for second place in the division.
“We need more emotion,” Sparks said. “I’m an emotional player; I need more emotion. We need more emotion from everybody. We need people to get angry. We need people to step up and be mad and take it personally.”
The Maple Leafs have allowed at least five goals in each of their past four games; the one win in that stretch was when they rallied for a 7-6 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.
“[Defense] has to be of the utmost importance for us,” said Tavares, who scored his 40th goal of the season. “We’re not going to have success if we’re giving up the amount of goals we’re giving up.
“It probably feels that one little bounce or one mistake is proving very costly, but that’s the way it’s going right now, and that’s the way this time of year gets. Everything gets very tight and the margin for error is very small, and that’s no matter who you’re playing against.”
They said it
“[This week has] been challenging. Me and [Frederik Andersen] both have been trying to make saves for this team; that’s all we ever try to do. We know we’re missing some guys (defensemen Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott, and forward Kasperi Kapanen), but we also have some pretty good players in the lineup in their place, so we’re not going to use that as an excuse. We can always be better.” — Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks
“It’s always fun beating Toronto, whatever the scenario is, wherever each team sits in the standings. It’s always a good matchup.” — Senators forward Zack Smith
Need to know
With the secondary assist on Ceci’s goal, Senators forward Max Veronneau got his first NHL point. … Tavares became the third player to score 40 goals in his first season with the Maple Leafs (Eddie Olczyk, 42, 1987-88, Auston Matthews, 40, 2016-17). … Matthews had a game-high nine shots on goal.
What’s next
Maple Leafs: At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Senators: At the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)
Morgan Rielly is the first blueliner in @MapleLeafs franchise history to be the first NHL defenseman to hit the 20-goal mark in a given season. #NHLStats #TORvsOTT pic.twitter.com/r28q3dUn6p
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 17, 2019
Morgan Rielly became the third defenseman in @MapleLeafs franchise history to score 20 goals in a season. The others: Ian Turnbull (1975-76, 1976-77) and Al Iafrate (1987-88, 1989-90).#NHLStats #TORvsOTT pic.twitter.com/HtLZ3Om7PM
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 17, 2019