OTTAWA SENATORS EXTEND BATTLE OF ONTARIO WITH GAME FIVE SHUTOUT IN TORONTO
Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs were shutout, 4-0, at home in game five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal by the Ottawa Senators, extending the series once again, with the Sens avoiding elimination for the second game in a row.
After staving off the sweep in game four with a gutsy overtime victory at home to force game five, the Ottawa Senators came back to Toronto looking like a completely different team. They were poised all game last night, from goaltender Linus Ullmark up to the forwards, Ottawa seemed in control and destined to extend the first round series.
After a scoreless first period, Ottawa won an offensive zone faceoff in the second, immediately sent two forwards to screen Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz, which aided defensemen Thomas Chabot, who’s point shot had eyes and opened the scoring. Five minutes into the second frame, Ottawa took the 1-0 lead.
As the third period came around, former Buffalo Sabre Dylan Cozens finished off a shorthanded two-on-one pass from Adam Gaudette, doubling the Senators’ lead up to 2-0 just before the halfway mark of the final frame. As Toronto pressed with the period winding down, Ottawa added two empty net goals in the final three minutes to ensure the 4-0 victory in game five, sending the series back to Canada’s capital.
While it is not yet panic time for Toronto, after missing out on a second opportunity to end the first round matchup last night, it's reasonable to assume that the Maple Leaf faithful woke up this morning with that all-too-familiar uneasy feeling. This fanbase has seen their team squander opportunities for decades, and even in the last 15 years, they’ve witnessed some of the worst postseason collapses in league history.
This season was filled with so much hope, so much belief that Toronto finally had everything they needed to go on a deep playoff run, and perhaps lift Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time since 1967. That faith was at an all-time high after the Leafs won game three just last week Thursday, taking a 3-0 series lead over Ottawa. Victory was, and still is, just one game away, and while they passed up on their chance to sweep the Senators with a four minute power play in overtime of game four, it still felt like a foregone conclusion that Toronto would end the opening round rivalry at home last night in game five.
Now, the Battle of Ontario heads back to Kanata, where the Ottawa Senators have all of the momentum for game six on Thursday night.
THE BANDITS BOX WITH RYAN ZUNNER: SEMIFINAL SET UP
The Buffalo Bandits advance to the NLL Semifinal, set to host the Vancouver Warriors for game one on Friday night. To further discuss the Quarterfinal victory for Buffalo, and preview their upcoming game, I spoke with Ryan Zunner.
BOTH UB TENNIS TEAMS WIN MAC TITLE, EACH ADVANCE TO NCAA TOURNAMENT
It is not often that both men’s and women’s teams at a school each win their Conference Championship. On top of that, it’s even more rare that they’re both matched up with the same opponent school in the first round of the National Tournament. This is the current scenario the University at Buffalo men’s and women’s tennis teams find themselves in. After they each respectively won the Mid American Conference Championship, the Bulls were both selected to face the Ohio State Buckeyes in round one of the NCAA Tournament.
The UB Women’s Tennis team will square off with the Buckeyes on Friday at 1PM, before the UB Men’s Tennis squad will join them in Columbus, set to face OSU in the first round on Saturday at 1PM.
The Scoreboard is presented by Zenner and Ritter Heating and Cooling.
