Maple Leafs fail to finish off Senators again as series heads back to Ottawa

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This has been a bad week for any blue team with a big lead trying to take over Ottawa. 

But moving from the political arena to the rink, it’s the Maple Leafs who’ve given the Senators another life, dropping Game 5 by a 4-0 score on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena. 

That leaves the Senators down just 3-2 heading back to the Canadian Tire Centre. From misfiring on a double-minor power play with a chance to sweep on Saturday, Toronto has not scored despite three more chances Tuesday and a good shot advantage. They gave up a short-handed goal Tuesday and fell to 1-13 during the Core Four era in elimination games. 

The pesky Sens were at their best, giving the offensive-minded Leafs little space, blocking numerous shots and letting Linus Ullmark take care of the rest. Another mention that only four teams in NHL history failed to finish off a best-of-seven after winning the first three. 

Despite a long pre-game pump-up video of Leaf goals in the series, Ottawa survived 12 first-period shots, four giveaways and 1:09 of a Ridly Greig penalty. Just as the Leafs couldn’t bury the Game 4 winner with the extra man, their top unit – despite John Tavares being back – was denied three times. 

The first advantage came to an end when Matthew Knies slashed Artem Zub’s stick in half. Morgan Rielly also delivered a late cross-check on Thomas Chabot to put Toronto down a man to end the period. Ullmark made nice saves on a Calle Jarnkrok deflection, while Knies, Tavares and Max Domi all had partial breakaways in the period. 

But an offensive zone faceoff win by Tim Stutzle in the second period against Auston Matthews, who had shot wide on his best chance of the middle period, turned into a goal when Brady Tkachuk worked it to Chabot for a long bomb through traffic. Ottawa went well into the second period before recording its 10th shot. 

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Stolarz stoned Tkachuk early in the third, but a soft Matthews pass from behind the net with Greig off again gave Dylan Cozens a freebie. Claude Giroux and Tkachuk finished the scoring with an empty netters, which triggered some booing and a mass exit. 

Stolarz nearly assisted on a goal when he sent Steve Lorentz away on a late second period breakaway that the winger just failed to deke in before his stick was lifted with the net open. 

Before the game, a confident captain Tkachuk told media in Ottawa: “Not too long ago, I watched the Red Sox-versus-Yankees documentary when Boston came back from 0-3. So it’s been done before and we have belief it can happen again.” 

It’s not just blather. The Leafs have to pay attention now, too. 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby