GAME 3 TAKEAWAYS: Two vastly different Maple Leafs combine for big win in Ottawa
It's Toronto’s first 3-0 series lead since sweeping the Senators in 2001
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For the second time in five chapters, they’ve won in the Battle of Ontario, the Maple Leafs hold a broom over the Ottawa Senators.
The past two games were hardly dominant by Toronto, two late leads slipping away before 3-2 overtime wins, but they’ve kept it together to take a commanding lead in the series.
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GAME 3 TAKEAWAYS: Two vastly different Maple Leafs combine for big win in Ottawa Back to video
Simon Benoit, who assisted on Max Domi’s Game 2 winner, had his own moment in the spotlight Thursday, his first ever game-winning goal in regular or post-season action.
Our takeaways on Toronto’s first 3-0 series lead since sweeping the Senators in 2001.
AUSTON TAKES CHARGE
Ottawa coach Travis Green playfully knocked on a wooden press conference table when reminded that Auston Matthews had not scored in the first two games.
No doubt Matthews didn’t need to be reminded and rectified that in the third period. No surprise that Mitch Marner was the architect, fielding a hot rim by Morgan Rielly and neatly redirecting it in front to Matthews before Linus Ullmark and the Senators could react.
Never mind that his heart-and-soul opposite number, Brady Tkachuk, equaled it later in the period, Matthews wasn’t done.
Winning his 13th faceoff of the night cleanly back to Benoit, Matthews got out of the way as Benoit stepped into his dagger.
Both Matthews and Marner have shown no signs thus far of their previous playoff yips that critics have held over their helmets for years. Matthews has five points, Marner six, while linemate Matthew Knies had Thursday’s opening goal.
SIMON SAYS GO HOME
Benoit’s blast at 1:19 was the second-fastest playoff overtime goal in Leafs history, behind Ed Olczyk’s at the 34-second mark against Detroit in 1988. It came on the heels of setting up Max Domi’s extra-time winner at 3:09 of Game 2 in Toronto.
Usually a stay-at-home defenceman who has often teased us that there’s a forward in him ready to break out, Benoit has made quite a climb for an undrafted player that general manager Brad Treliving had noted on Anaheim’s roster. He’s made various contributions for two straight seasons.
But scoring on the big stage?
“I guess I was keeping that one for the playoffs,” Benoit quipped to Sportsnet, having notched a single goal in the regular season. “That one is pretty cool. But as long as we get that win, it doesn’t matter who scores.
“I don’t think about (the pressures of overtime). We’re having fun out there, all the guys are composed and we have a lot of experience.
“You try to use the crowd to your advantage when they go crazy on every hit or shot. Use the momentum to bring you into the game.”
Benoit earned the respect of one-time Ducks teammate Anthony Stolarz a long time ago.
“He’s a hell of a human being, a hell of a player,” the goalie told the media in Ottawa. “He’s willing to eat pucks, to fight, to do all the little nitty-gritty things you have to have on a successful team.”
Benoit also became the first Quebec-born Leaf since Yanic Perreault with a playoff OT winner, from back in 1999 against the Flyers. NHL Stats also credited him with the fifth-fastest goal in the past 30 years of Stanley Cup play by a defenceman, which includes teammate Chris Tanev’s in the first minute of a 2020 game for Vancouver.
POWER HOUR
The shambles of a 1-for-21 power play last year in the series loss to Boston keeps getting pushed back further in the memory bank. Toronto is 5-for-9 with the man advantage in this series, and at one stage Thursday night, was leading all teams that had played at least three games. The Leafs scored on one of their two power-play opportunities in Game 3, albeit a fluky goal, by Matthew Knies.
Whereas Toronto’s bodies and sticks have been getting in the lanes when Ottawa has the extra man, other than Thursday’s 5-on-3 goal by Claude Giroux, it’s tough on opponents when Matthews, Marner, Knies, William Nylander and John Tavares throw so many pucks on net and chase down rebounds.
ANOTHER STOLIE STEAL
There were certainly challenges for Stolarz among his 18 saves, but he was kicking himself for allowing the first shot of an otherwise good defensive period beat him as it did in Game 2. The Max Domi line lost an offensive zone draw and Tkachuk snapped the tying marker, short-side, with 8:38 to go in regulation.
“That was a tough one for me to give up,” Stolarz said after his first ever game at the Canadian Tire Centre. “After that, I knew I’d be dialed in for the next shot. That’s the great things about the playoffs: You have 19 other guys there to pick you up.”
Stolarz exchanged some chirps with the Sens, but the crease-crowding from Games 1 and 2 was reduced.
“I kind of talked to the refs tonight. I said: ‘Watch my back and I’ll behave.’ They have big guys, they’ll come to the net, it’s up for me to find the puck and smother it.”
Meanwhile, counterpart Linus Ullmark lost his sixth straight playoff start.
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