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OTTAWA |
VS. |
TORONTO |
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|
|
|
48-25-7 |
|
35-33-12 |
|
103 Pts |
|
82
Pts |
|
2nd in East |
|
7th
in East |
|
REGULAR SEASON STATS |
||
|
15.9% (9th) |
PP% |
16.2% (8th) |
|
87.5% (5th) |
PK% |
85.9% (11th) |
|
13.4 (26th) |
PIM/G |
14.2 (23rd) |
|
3.38 (3rd) |
GF/G |
2.70 (23rd) |
|
2.50 (3rd) |
GA/G |
2.79 (13th) |
|
28.4 (6th) |
SF/G |
25.6 (24th) |
|
25.2 (6th) |
SA/G |
27.4 (21st) |
|
TOP 3 POINT SCORERS |
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|
C Sakic (42-58-100) |
1 |
LW Bartecko (28-29-57) |
|
LW Stillman (25-44-69) |
2 |
C Walz (23-33-56) |
|
RW Fleury (32-36-68) |
3 |
RW Donovan (16-35-51) |
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TOP 3 GOAL SCORERS |
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C Sakic (42) |
1 |
LW Bartecko (28) |
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RW Fleury (32) |
2 |
C Walz (23) |
|
RW Young (30) |
3 |
RW Donovan (16) |
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TOP 3 PLUS/MINUS |
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C Sakic +34 |
1 |
D Helmer +5 |
|
RW Doan +21 |
2 |
RW Kallio +4 |
|
D Foote +21 |
3 |
D Commodore +1 |
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TOP GOALTENDER |
||
|
Lalime |
|
Nabokov |
|
2.51 |
GAA |
2.71 |
|
.899 |
SV% |
.900 |
|
42-21-6 |
W-L-T |
29-27-8 |
|
4 |
SO |
2 |
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SEASON
SERIES STATS |
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Ottawa Wins Series 2-1-1 |
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|
OTT, 1 |
TOR, 4 |
|
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OTT, 4 |
TOR, 1 |
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OTT, 3 |
TOR, 1 |
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OTT, 4 |
TOR, 4 |
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TEAM STATS |
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|
8.3% |
PP% |
18.75% |
|
81.25% |
PK% |
91.7% |
|
14.75 |
PIM/G |
16.75 |
|
3.25 |
GF/G |
2.5 |
|
2.5 |
GA/G |
3.25 |
|
30.25 |
SF/G |
23.5 |
|
23.5 |
SA/G |
30.25 |
|
TOP 3 POINT SCORERS |
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|
C Smolinski (2-4-6) |
1 |
C Stefan (1-3-4) |
|
LW Rolston (0-4-4) |
2 |
RW Donovan (1-2-3) |
|
RW Young (4-0-4) |
3 |
D Quint (1-1-2) |
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BREAKDOWN |
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|
With Joe Sakic being better
than any two Toronto forwards, it’s not hard to tell that Ottawa is going to
win the forward match up in a landslide. Mark Messier provides the playoff
experience and veteran leadership while Shane Doan plays the role of power
forward and beats the heads off of the Toronto defense. The thing that
strikes me about the Ottawa forwards is just that they’re so playoff
experienced and know what it’s like to be a winner. Ottawa knows how to get
things done in the offensive end as well as the defensive end with these
forwards and they win this match up by a wide margin. |
|
Toronto
is totally mismatched in this series and it all starts up front. With no star
players and no real offensive wizards, it’s going to be difficult for Toronto
to get anything started on this really defensive Senators team. Patrick
Stefan is the only chance for Toronto to start anything productive in this
series and he’s still only 22 years of age. When your only real hope lies on
the shoulders of a man this young, it’s a harbinger of things to come. In
this case it is bad things to Toronto. |
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DEFENSE |
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There is only one concern
with this Ottawa blueline, and it’s age and dexterity. Adam Foote is a
fantastic hard-nosed defenseman, but he’s also known for being oft injured.
Ken Klee is up there in age as well. Richard Matvichuk has been known to
disappear around playoff time, and Phil Housely is as old as the hills
themselves. Aaron Miller is a fantastic defenseman, but he will have to play
his best hockey of his career if one of these players goes down. Sadly, he’s
still better than any Toronto defenseman. Ottawa wins again here. |
|
Another
clear advantage for Ottawa is the lack of defense on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With an almost laughable defense, it’s going to be easy pickings for an Ottawa
squad that produces goals on a large scale and is very stingy on their own
side of the ice. Mike Commodore needs to come up very big, but that won’t
even be enough in this case. Toronto is clearly out matched. It’s not going
to be a pretty sight when this defense is exposed for the lack of talent they
have. |
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OTT PP vs. TOR PK |
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Joe Sakic is going to have
to be the key to this Ottawa power play. Though they have a lot of great two
way forwards, Ottawa doesn’t have that many offensive specialists. They also
don’t have a very potent attack from the blueline with Housely being the only
legitimate quarterback they have and him being quite up there in age. Toronto
would be poised to take this match up away from Ottawa if they only had one
or two legitimate penalty killers, but they don’t. Therefore, Ottawa takes
this match by default. |
|
Joe
Sakic could probably skate by himself against the best Toronto penalty
killers and score at a ten percent clip. The level of talent on the Ottawa
power play, while not great, is still far and away better than anything that
the Toronto Maple Leafs can put on the ice. It’s going to be a tough series
if Ottawa is given too many chances to produce on the power play and I’m
having the feeling that they probably will have those chances. Toronto Coach
Pat Quinn better stress the importance of discipline or his team is done
before they even start. |
|
TOR PP vs. OTT PK |
||
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Bryan Smolinksi and Kirk
Maltby are two of the better penalty killers in the whole entire league, and
Toronto has nothing on the offensive side of the puck to even come close.
With this big of a discrepancy between the skill of the penalty killers and
the skill of the power play, it’s going to be a thing of beauty to watch if
you are a Senators fan. Toronto will be lucky to register a power play goal
in the entire series. Edge goes clearly to the Senators in this department. |
|
Toronto
doesn’t have a legitimate power play quarterback or a legitimate forward to
do all the work himself. It’s going to be easy on this part of the game for
Ottawa too. There isn’t much that can be said for Toronto’s success without
using the terms “blind luck” and “upset team”. This series is going to be short and sweet, and the Toronto
power play will probably never get their feet off the ground. The clear
advantage here lies in the hands of Ottawa. |
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GOALTENDING |
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Patrick Lalime is one of
the highest rated goaltenders in the CTCHL, but he’s not all that playoff
proven. While he is a fantastic regular season goaltender, it’s going to be
interesting to see if Ottawa is going to be able to protect him well enough
to keep his fantastic goals against average and win total in tact. With the
anemic power play of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it shouldn’t be all that tough
of a job. However, it’s hard to bet against Nabokov and Toronto takes their
only win here. |
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John
Nabokov is the lone bright spot on a team that doesn’t have that many stars. His
performance this year is probably the sole reason that Toronto has even made
the playoffs, and he knows that. Expect him to come out sharp and try to stop
as much of the puck as he can before Ottawa sinks their teeth in and gives
him a rough ride. It should be interesting to see how long it takes him to
crack. If he doesn’t crack, it’s the only shot that Toronto has at this
series. |
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COACHING |
||
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With Jacques Martin
leading the way for the Senators, it’s going to be tough for Toronto to crack
them. Martin is a defensive specialist coach and is going to have a field day
with the weak attack of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Perhaps the best game
planner in the entire CTCHL, Martin is going to blow this attack away like a
fly and lead his Senators to a fantastic series and a ticket to the next
round of the playoffs. |
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Pat
Quinn of the Maple Leafs is going to have quite the job even keeping this
club afloat, much less doing any dynamic coaching in order to win the series.
Chances are very good that Toronto ends their very special run this season
and goes into a rebuilding mode. They should feel accomplished to have even
made it this far, but midnight is about to strike twelve on this Cinderella
team. Clear advantage to Ottawa here as well. |
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PREDICTION |
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