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The Good, Bad & Ugly in Maple Leafs 2-1 Loss To the Senators

Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators. What were the good, bad, and ugly parts of the game?

by
Stan Smith
January 26, 2025

The Battle of Ontario resumed Saturday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs ventured into Canada’s capital to take on the Ottawa Senators. Most of the fans in the building did not go home happy as their beloved Maple Leafs lost the contest 2-1. What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

The Ugly: Joseph Woll Slewfooted

I will start with the ugly, as this game had two ugly incidents. One happened just over two minutes after the drop of the puck, and the referees and the television broadcast team ignored it. That was a slew-foot by Matthew Highmore on Joseph Woll while Woll stood in his crease. The puck was behind the Toronto net when Highmore skated through the crease and caught Woll from behind with his skate.

Woll went down hard, looked stunned, and struggled to return to his feet. There was no call on the play by either of the referees, and no word was mentioned on the TV broadcast. No one on the ice or the bench for Toronto noticeably reacted to it, either. I was surprised, as it looked like a deliberate act by Highmore. Woll appeared okay and was able to continue. With his injury history, it was a scary incident.

Jacob Quillan Caught Knee-on-Knee Hit by Cousins

The second ugly incident was a knee-on-knee collision between Maple Leafs rookie Jacob Quillan and Nick Cousins. During the play, Quillan was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when it appeared Cousins was trying to line him up for an open-ice hit. Quillan maneuvered to avoid Cousins, and Cousins caught Quillan knee-on-knee. Both players went down and were in obvious pain.

Ryan Reaves went directly for Cousins for the hit but realized Cousins himself was injured. Cousins did get the worst of it. Quillan was able to eventually “skate it off,” while Cousins left the game and did not return. Despite that, Cousins was the aggressor on the play and the player who delivered the knee. Usually, that penalty is called, but in this case, the referees ruled the play an accident, and no call was made. Berube questioned the non-call at the time and in his post-game interview.

The Good: Bobby McMann Scores from Mitch Marner

Shortly after the Highmore-Woll incident, Mitch Marner, from behind the Senators’ net, found Bobby McMann in the slot in front of Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg, and McMann slammed the puck home past Forsberg on his stick side to open the scoring in the game.

The Bad: The Maple Leafs Only Scored Once

Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs and the thousands of fans in attendance at the game, that was the only puck they would get past Forsberg. The Senators would score twice to take the win. The first was on a 4-on-3 power play halfway through the 1st period. Tim Stutzle hammered a one-timer past Woll to tie the game with Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg in the box for Toronto, along with Brady Tkachuk for the Senators.

The second and winning goal was three times lucky for Ottawa. Lucky break #1 was after a close-in shot by Highmore ramped off Marner’s stick up into the air. Highmore got his stick on the puck right about cross-bar height. A few inches higher, and it would have been a high stick. After Highmore batted the puck down, lucky break #2 occurred when the puck bounced off the top of Shane Pinto’s knee. Lucky break #3 was after hitting Pinto’s knee; the puck came down on the goal line. Marner, while attempting to stop the puck from crossing the line, tipped the puck about an inch over the line. On the overhead replay, you could see just a sliver of white ice between the puck and the goal line. It was that close to not crossing the line.

That was it for the scoring. Despite the Maple Leafs out-chancing the Senators 15-5 in the third period, nine of those chances being of the high-danger variety, Toronto could not improve on their single goal.

Observations

Joseph Woll Deserved a Better Fate

Woll deserved a better fate in this contest. He was great in the game. Maybe this was the hockey gods getting back at him. Despite giving up 18 goals in his previous five games, Woll was 3-2 in those games and on a three-game winning streak going into this game. This was his best performance in his last six appearances, but he still came out with the loss.

Jacob Quillan made his NHL debut in front of friends and family and did not look out of place in minimal ice time. Because of how close the game was and how Berube had the lines set up, Quillan only saw 5:21 of action. Quillan was placed on the 4th line along with fellow rookie Fraser Minten and Ryan Reaves. With three off-days coming up, Berube was not shy about going with three lines for most of the game. None of Quillan, Minten, nor Reaves saw more than six minutes of action.

The Maple Leafs Lack of Scoring Depth Showed

The Maple Leafs’ lack of forward depth with John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and Max Pacioretty out was evident. David Kampf and Pontus Holmberg played several shifts alongside William Nylander. The top line of Auston Matthews, Marner, and McCabe seemed set, but the rest was all mix and match. I was surprised that Minten did not get a chance further up the lineup. While he is still learning what it takes to be an NHL regular, he has the speed and talent to keep up with Nylander, who looked like he was alone most of the game.

Auston Matthews Maple Leafs scored — Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs

I’m unsure if Matthews had an off-night or if the Senators did a great job of neutralizing him. It was probably a little of both, as Matthews was the quietest of the Matthews, Marner, and McMann combination. Marner was his usual self with and without the puck, and McMann fired six shots at the Ottawa net. For the most part, Matthews was invisible and only managed one shot on goal.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

Toronto’s lead in the Atlantic Division fell to just one point as the Florida Panthers routed the San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday. Both teams have 50 games played.

The Maple Leafs only play two games in the next nine days. They host the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday before heading out on a four-game, eight-day road trip leading to the Four Nations break. They play in Edmonton next Saturday night and in Calgary next Tuesday. Then they head to the coast to take on the Seattle Kraken the following Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks the following Saturday.

Hopefully, the light schedule will help Toronto get healthier in the forward position and goal. Anthony Stolarz was reported working on the ice and could be ready to come back soon. Knies is said to be day-to-day and could return sooner rather than later. Tavares has yet to return to the ice. I would be surprised if we saw him before the Four Nations break. Pacioretty is expected to resume practicing next week. Connor Dewar was placed on injury reserve this week to allow the Maple Leafs to call up Nikita Grebenkin.