OTTAWA – Mark Giordano learns that playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs means having fans everywhere you go.
The noise was deafening when Giordano scored the winning goal for the overtime to win 5-4 over the senators in Ottawa on Saturday night.
“It was a pretty good audience for us tonight,” Giordano said. “I thought there were a lot of Leaf fans in the building. Really good atmosphere – I noticed that since I’ve been here, the atmosphere in distant buildings. It’s good to know that wherever you play, you know you’ll get good noise in the building. ”
Giordano was a nice addition to Leafs and his teammates appreciate everything he has to offer.
“I think he is a huge part of our team,” said Michael Bunting, who scored and assisted. “He is a veteran and he came and immediately had this veteran presence. He was captain for a long time in Calgary and then captain in Seattle. He carries (himself) like that. He’s a great addition and a great off-ice man and he’s playing amazing for us right now. ”
Ottawa had the largest audience of the season, but most of the 18,655 available at the Canadian Tire Center applauded the Leafs.
The loyal to the blue and whites had something to applaud, as Mitchell Marner scored twice and Kyle Clifford also scored for Toronto (49-20-6). Eric Calgren stopped 25 shots.
Tim Stutzle continues to impress in his second season, as the 20-year-old scored twice to reach the 20-goal mark for the first time.
Stutzle have six goals and seven assists in their last eight games.
He almost won after extra time, but Kalgren managed to save.
“He’s still getting better,” said Senators coach DJ Smith. “He plays against the best in the league and does not give up. Again, he may be the best player out there, he is one of them. There are certainly some high-end players there, but Timmy is really coming. ”
Michael Del Zoto and Dylan Gambrell also joined Ottawa (28-40-7). Anton Forsberg made 36 saves.
Stutzle broke a 3-3 draw in the sixth minute of the third, taking advantage of a terrible hand from Ilya Lubushkin to bury his 20th of the season.
Stutzle admitted that he enjoys the challenge of playing high-octane Leafs.
() Aston Said Stutzle. “These are two guys, after which I’m trying to shape my game and play against them, I think it gives me a huge boost.”
Leafs started slowly, but more than made up for it when it counted.
Marner made the score 4-4, marking his second match in the middle of the period.
“We didn’t go out the way we wanted,” Marner admitted. “We knew they would come to us quickly and try to stand behind us. They did well, but I thought the second and third periods there we just went and played the game we needed. And we got the desired result. ”
Leaving 2-0 for the start of the second, Leafs came back and tied 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Clifford found the result in the frame for Toronto, directing the shot of Justin Hall for his first of the season.
Ottawa took a 3-1 lead in the middle of the second when Austin Watson shot through traffic and Gambrell pushed him past Calgren. The assistant gave Watson the 100th point of his career in his 400th NHL game.
“When you actually take some time to think about it, it’s pretty emotional for me,” Watson admitted. “This game has given me a life I don’t know if I deserve, but I’m still here. I can’t thank the Nashville Predators, the Ottawa Senators and the league enough for, you know, that allowed me to live my dreams, but also to take care of life outside the game. So I have a lot of thanks today. ”
Despite falling behind, the Leaves never seemed worried that they would be able to regain control.
“I thought for a while that we were ahead and ahead,” said Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. “From the moment we made it 3-1, though, I thought our boys were really clinging from that point on, and we were really good.”
Toronto made the match with one goal a little more than a minute later, as Bunting managed to score a goal close, and Marner equalized the game at the end of the period, once missed a pass from TJ Brody from the top of the round.
The senators could not have demanded a better start, jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
When attacking two to zero, Brady Tkachuk passed the puck to Stutzle through the slot, which scored once to open a goal.
Del Zoto made the score 2-0 at the end of the period with a shot from the blue line, which peeked over Timothy Lillegren and in.
OBSERVATIONS: Colin White of Ottawa was placed on the COVID-19 record before the game, forcing defender Victor Mete to take action, but as a striker… Mathieu Joseph remains out of action and may not be able to return before the end of the season.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 16, 2022.
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