Senators have the edge in Battle of Ontario
Having been the subject of the boobirds in Ottawa at the recent all-star game, Joffrey Lupul has a new appreciation for the Battle of Ontario.
“The rivalry is picking up now because we’re both good teams, or on the verge of becoming good teams,” the good-natured Leafs winger said Friday. “We’re competing for a playoff spot and that’s going to get the fans a little more fired up than they were on all-star weekend.”
The jeering Lupul and his fellow Leafs received in Ottawa was to be expected.
“It might have made the weekend even more memorable. I expect the same treatment (Saturday),” said Lupul. “We’re both young and upand-coming teams. They’re a team on our radar.”
To catch Ottawa most likely requires a simple ingredient: beating Ottawa.
It’s been a missing ingredient this season. The Senators have won three of the four games between the two. It’s not just Ottawa the Leafs have trouble with. It’s the entire Northeast Division. While the Leafs have done a marvelous job in piling up a 21-9-6 record against the rest of the NHL, the Leafs are a horrid 5-10-0 against division rivals. “Divisional games are four-point games right now,” said defenceman Cody Franson. “With things as tight as they are, with roughly 30 games left in the season, those in-division games are huge.” The last time the Leafs played Ottawa, Toronto blew a 2-0 lead. “There have been nights we’ve shot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” said Franson. “We’re learning as a group in here, and we’ve studied our mistakes.” One potential difference maker is a healthy Colby Armstrong, who adds a fair amount of grit to counter the presence of Ottawa’s agitator Chris Neil. Armstrong plays with centre David Steckel and winger Mike Brown on the fourth line. “We’re looking for that wellrounded game out of our line, be an agitating factor for sure,” he said. Armstrong was alarmed at the Leafs’ poor record against Ottawa. “That’s something we’ll have to get on top of,” said Armstrong. “We know what’s going on this time of year. It’s go-time now. We’re right in the mix. We want to stay there.” Coming into the game, the Leafs are the hotter of the two teams. They earned seven of a possible eight points in their last four games, including a 1-0 shutout for James Reimer, who earned his second start in a row after backing up Jonas Gustavsson for most of January. “It’s who we feel most comfortable with, and who’s playing well,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. Wilson is more or less going with a win-and-you’re-in philosophy. “That’s Motivation 101. If you play well you deserve to play a little bit more, whether it’s a forward or a defenceman or in this case a goal- tender,” said Wilson. “He won the game. He was perfect in the game. He deserves to get another start.”
While the Mikhail Grabovski line has carried the load offensively the past few games, Lupul, Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak have gone quiet. Collectively they have four goals and eight assists in the last 10 games.
“We’re going to have one of those breakout games sooner or later,” Lupul said.