Leafs visit Senators for season-ending role reversal
The Toronto Maple Leafs will end their season Wednesday night when they visit the Ottawa Senators, in a dramatic reversal from nearly a year ago.
When the Maple Leafs (32-35-14, 78 points) visited the Senators (43-27-11, 97 points) last May 1, they won Game 6 to clinch a victory in the first-round playoff series.
This time, the Maple Leafs will be packing their gear following the game after they were eliminated from playoff contention several games ago.
Ottawa, meanwhile, has clinched an Eastern Conference wild-card spot and will use the regular-season finale to prepare for the playoffs.
Toronto has dropped six in a row (0-5-1) after blowing a 3-0 first-period lead Monday and losing their final home game of the season 6-5 to the playoff-bound Dallas Stars.
The Maple Leafs also led by two goals in the third period before Dallas scored three straight.
The highlight for Toronto came when Jacob Quillan scored his first career NHL goal in the first period.
The Senators are coming off a 4-3 overtime road loss Sunday to the New Jersey Devils that snapped their four-game winning streak.
Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot did not play for Ottawa on Sunday.
Dawson Mercer tied the game 3-3 in the third period with New Jersey's second short-handed goal of the contest.
"It was a big point," Senators coach Travis Green said. "We had a lot of good players out of the lineup tonight. Guys battled, but when you give up two short-handed goals, it's tough to win in the NHL."
The Senators overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit to earn the point.
"I didn't like the first 10 minutes of our game," Green said.
"We did a lot of good things," said forward Claude Giroux, who had an assist. "We just played more to our identity. We want to play more as a team, and we did that in the second period. "
"We're playing pretty well going into the playoffs," said forward Shane Pinto, who scored a power-play goal.
Fabian Zetterlund has been surging for the Senators and scored his fourth goal in four games on Sunday.
Tkachuk is also expected to sit out Wednesday after taking a hit Saturday that forced him to leave the 3-0 win over the New York Islanders. He said on Tuesday that he will be ready for the playoffs.
Ottawa has won two of three from Toronto this season.
The Maple Leafs started Monday as if they would finish their home schedule on a positive note.
"I was disappointed," Toronto coach Craig Berube said. "We got a 3-0 lead, and then we gave it back to them that quickly in the second period, just on mistakes. With the coverage, we're right there, but we're not close enough.
"It is disappointing on my end, for sure. We talked about getting a win here tonight. It would have been nice, but it didn't happen."
Maple Leafs forward John Tavares opened the scoring with his team-leading 31st goal of the season.
The 35-year-old will have played in all 82 games this season when he takes to the ice on Wednesday.
"It's impressive," Berube said. "I talk about him all the time with you guys, about his preparation and work ethic. It's the same every day, every practice, every game. When things aren't going well, he works his way out of it. He's a great pro. He's been a great pro his whole career."