Ottawa Senators' Clark Bishop and teammate Alex Formenton collide with Toronto Maple Leafs' Pierre Engvall during the first period in Ottawa on March 25, 2021.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Justin Holl may have scored the overtime winner with 18 seconds to play on Thursday night, but for neutrals it was Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg who stole the show, and almost pilfered a win for the Senators.
Playing in his first NHL game in more than a year, Forsberg was spectacular, making 38 saves, just four off his career high, as the Senators fell 3-2 in overtime. The 28-year-old got a quick warm-up last Saturday, making 33 saves in leading the AHL’s Belleville Senators to a victory over the Toronto Marlies.
“There’s been a lot of practice behind this and I haven’t played any games so I’ve been working on the details of my game and I feel pretty good,” Forsberg said. “It was a lot of fun to just go out and play.”
The Leafs hardly let him ease back into his NHL return either, putting 12 shots on net in the first period, 10 of which came from the slot.
Since he last took part in NHL action, in an overtime win over the New York Islanders on March 7, 2020, Forsberg has been involved with four NHL teams, being claimed by Carolina, Winnipeg and most recently Ottawa last week since signing a contract with Edmonton last October.
With rookie goaltender Filip Gustavsson given the night off, after leading Ottawa to back-to-back wins over Calgary, most recently in a 3-1 win on Wednesday, the decision was made to put Forsberg in, the fifth different goaltender to suit up for the Senators in their 36th game of the year.
Still wearing blue-and-white goaltending pads as a very visible memento of his time in Winnipeg with the Jets, Forsberg did everything he could to extend the Senators’ point streak to six games.
But his luck ran out in the overtime period, with Auston Matthews drawing a save from Forsberg, before Mitch Marner flung the puck out in front for Holl, who scored his second of the campaign.
“[Auston] was able to make a hard play to the net and get the goalie a little bit out of position, I think,” Holl said. “Then Mitchy found it and found me perfectly in the slot and I was able to bury it which was nice.”
Marner’s assist gave him his 41st point of the year, while Matthews grabbed his 37th, as the Leafs won their 21st game to increase their lead at the top of the North Division to two points over the Edmonton Oilers and the Jets. The Senators, meanwhile, remain last. The two teams meet twice more in the regular season, with the next meeting April 10 in Ottawa.
“It’s a tough way to end the game but we showed some character coming back like that,” said defenseman Thomas Chabot, whose turnover in overtime led to the winning goal.
Entering the game with the NHL’s 27th best power play and 23rd best penalty kill, Ottawa’s special teams have been anything but special this season. But the penalty kill had been vastly better of late, successfully killing off the eight short-handed situations it had found itself in Ottawa’s past five games.
It was something that head coach D.J. Smith cautioned the morning of the game, wary of Toronto’s 27.7 per-cent power-play success rate entering the game. However, the reality was something far less potent, with the Leafs going zero-for-12 with the man advantage in their previous five games entering Thursday’s contest.
“You’ve got to stay off the penalty kill,” Smith said. “You can’t give their power play extra looks, one or two penalties max.”
So, naturally, the Senators were busy killing their third penalty of the evening, with Chabot in the box for a slash on Ilya Mikheyev, when they broke through.
An innocuous-looking dump-in didn’t seem to pose any problems for Jack Campbell, but Chris Tierney forced the turnover on the forecheck, leaving the unguarded puck in the slot in front of the empty cage. Former Leaf Connor Brown didn’t need a second invite, potting his seventh of the year and fourth goal in 10 games against his old team.
Likely just as pleasing for Smith was that the goal was the team’s second short-handed of the year, after his team had scored 15 such goals last season.
Campbell, however, would have been somewhat less pleased. With usual starter Frederik Andersen injured, the 29-year-old has stepped admirably into the void, posting back-to-back shutouts over first Edmonton last month and then Calgary last Saturday. But Brown’s goal ended his shutout streak at 152 minutes 20 seconds. Campbell finished with 29 saves, improving to 5-0 on the season.
Toronto got back on terms late in the second period, courtesy of its fourth line. Zach Hyman centred the puck, and after tipping off TJ Brodie’s stick, it ricocheted off first the goal frame and then the shoulder of Ilya Mikheyev, from where it ended up in the net.
After first being ruled off by the officials, replays credited the Russian with his fifth goal of the year, and ended Forsberg’s brave resistance. Leaf fans will be thankful, too. Not only did the goal get the Leafs back level going into the third period, but it also made up somewhat for Ottawa icing six skaters for a good 10 seconds in the first period, an offence that was missed by seemingly everyone in attendance at the Canadian Tire Centre.
With the contest hanging very much in the balance, Jason Spezza gave Toronto its first lead with less than 10 minutes remaining. The 41-year-old centre scored for the third successive game, taking a pass from Alex Kerfoot and firing a wrist shot over Forsberg’s shoulder for his eighth goal.
But less than three minutes later, Ottawa answered right back with Alex Formenton scoring his second career goal after Campbell misplayed the puck, allowing the Senators winger the chance to draw level off the loose puck.
“I know those types of goals just can’t go in,” Campbell said afterwards. “Those are 100 per cent on me, of course. I know I’ll be a lot better on those goalie handles, but I’m just proud of the way the guys responded both times.
“I’ll make sure not to make it a habit, that’s for sure.”