Toronto Maple Leafs slide by Ottawa Senators 5-3 -NHL Preseason Update
Ottawa Senators forward, Chris Neil, should get himself ready for the Brendan Shanahan review, after checking Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski hard to the ground, but still recovering to lead his team to a 5-3 victory over the provincial rivals, on
Tuesday, September 27, at a sold-out Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
"We played well tonight because we worked hard", said Grabovski after the matchup.
With over 18,831 fans in attendance, it was certainly a pressurised moment for both teams, as Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs were looking to snap their two game losing streaks.
Toronto lost the past two matchups to a reenergised Buffalo Sabres, while Ottawa Senators have only won twice during the previous five contests, including a loss from Maple Leafs in the preseason opening.
For Ottawa Senators head coach, Paul MacLean, his team had a great start but as the penalties started to build up, it became hard for them to make a comeback.
"I felt we had a real good start to the game", MacLean said about their second meeting with Toronto Maple Leafs. "We wanted to come out and get a lead, and we did. We played really well through the first half of the first period. We took a penalty and got
into some trouble, but as the game wore on I thought we started to skate less and less and we ended up playing too much time in our end again, and our structure wasn't there to save us".
Ottawa’s top entry draft pick, Mika Zibanejad, continued to impress MacLean by scoring his third goal in five preseason games, which has certainly put him in the coaches’ good books for the upcoming regular season.
Zibanejad, Zack Smith and Nick Foligno potted a goal each to take Ottawa ahead by one to end the first period with a lead in their favour, little did they know that those were the only goals they would score.
Toronto also scored twice as Grabovski made a shorthanded wrist-shot and John-Michael Liles scored during a power play nearly four minutes apart.
Maple Leafs tied up the match as Nikolai Kulemin answered on his own rebound of Robin Lehner followed by Darryl Boyce and Clarke MacArthur to finalise the game during the third period.
Toronto plays their next game in Detroit against Red Wings, while Ottawa prepares to meet up with Boston Bruins for their last matchup of the preseason.
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