MAPLE LEAFS NOTES: Toronto shows third-period playoff maturity in knocking out Ottawa Senators

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About that difficulty ending a playoff series for the Maple Leafs?

Case closed.

In a tense third period, aside from David Perron’s DIY bank shot, was the calmness under fire the Leafs lacked in 12 of the 13 elimination games they failed to bring home. It took less than two minutes after Perron’s tying goal for Max Pacioretty, wearing that rather cumbersome 67 with connotations of the last Stanley Cup, to restore the lead.

“It’s why I’m here,” Pacioretty said before inserted into the Battle of Ontario three games ago.

Ottawa had no shots on net for the first five and a half minutes of the final period and a Morgan Rielly penalty that could’ve put the Leafs in a huge hole, was handled with little difficulty.

While clearing the puck was problematic all night for the Leafs, mates covered for other mates’ errors and Anthony Stolarz did the rest in net.

On the whole, the evening was the ideal combination of stars coming out at the right time, goals by Auston Matthews and William Nylander with the 4-2 empty netter, to establish the lead, while the grinders that GM Brad Treliving brought in or topped up with at the trade deadline sealing the deal.

THAT’S LOTS TO LIKE

Forward Scott Laughton wanted to experience the thrill of a playoff chase again.

Now he and a few other post-season starved Leafs will get another round around the Maypole. For Toronto’s Core Four-era players, it’s just their second visit to the second stage since 2017.

While they’ve climbed the ranks of franchise playoff points, Nylander joining Mitch Marner and Matthews at 50-plus after, they should’ve been much higher in games played by now, instead of all sitting outside the top 20. That could change though the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers look formidable again.

The veteran Laughton has had an excruciating post-season pause since 2020 with Philadelphia, the last time he made the playoffs or went multiple rounds. He and linemates Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok were getting in the Sens’ faces and Laughton’s block of a Jake Sanderson point rocket was huge, leading to Nylander’s clincher. Several teammates hugged him first in the post-game celebration.

“You embrace it,” Laughton had said Wednesday. “It’s been a lot of fun for me, the first in a very long time.”

Defenceman Simon Benoit hasn’t seen second-round action since 2019 as a San Diego Gull in the American Hockey League, while winger Pontus Holmberg — who screened Linus Ullmark on the Pacioretty goal — played 14 spring games for Vaxjo in the Swedish Elite League in ‘21, but hardly any since.

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SEN-SATIONAL EFFORT

A teary Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk called it “devastating” to have his team’s spirited comeback fall short. But had the Sens of yesteryear had his heart, they probably wouldn’t have lost the four rounds of the Battle in the early 2000s. Fans chanted his name during the handshake line.

“I’m really proud of every single guy in this room,” Tkachuk told media in Ottawa. “Even the guys who weren’t playing, the staff, everybody in this organization. We didn’t get the job done, but we’ll take these lessons and be that much better because of it.”

LOOSE LEAFS

The win-loss tally from 30 playoff games between these two rivals is now 20-10 in Toronto’s favour, but four of the five series went at least six games … Sportsnet looked at some footage a bit closely from Game 5 to find Matthews didn’t break his stick in frustration during the loss, but had in fact seized foe Ridly Greig’s a second time in the series and broke it, one of many run-ins during the series … When Nylander scored on his 29th birthday, he joined Borje Salming, Bob Pulford and James van Riemsdyk in doing so in playoffs … Pacioretty’s goal was on the 1993 anniversary of Nikolai Borschevsky’s Game 7 first round overtime winner against Detroit that started the Leafs on the road to the conference final … Friday is the 58th anniversary of Toronto winning it’s last Cup, beating Montreal 3-1 at the Gardens in Game 6.

Lhornby@postmedia.com
X: @sunhornby