And now we play the good games. Ottawa. Toronto. Battle of Ontario. These games are always intense. The Battle of Ontario have diminished a bit over the last few years, as the Senators have destroyed the Leafs in regular season, and the Leafs have not had the opportunity to kick Ottawa out of the playoffs like they used to.

That being said, last night’s game was a really good one. It didn’t feel like a pre-season game, it felt like a playoff game. There was strong play on both sides, excellent saves, and some fisticuffs to boot. The Leafs jumped out early with a first period goal by our captain, Mats Sundin. After that, it seemed downhill. Ottawa got 3 unanswered goals from Schubert, Heatley and Schubert again. It looked like our Maple Leafs were going to waste away opportunities like they did last year. Everyone watching the game with me thought alike… ‘Here we go again.’

But, our Maple Leafs prevailed. John Pohl scored at 12:37 in the second period, then Ponikarovsky scored at 11:10 of the third to tie, and force overtime.

This is where we saw the difference between the Leafs and the Senators. This is where we saw some of the Maple Leaf’s weaknesses on display. Hal Gill took a tripping penalty, albeit a very controversial one, and went to the box for 2. Senators have a 4 on 3. All three Leafs on the ice decided it was a good idea to crowd around the goal, and not stop Jason Spezza from skating circles. He did so, and when he saw an opening, passed it off to Patrick Eaves to tap it in the net.

I understand that you need to be defensive when down a man in overtime, but this goal was a good display of bad play. And it wasn’t like it was rookie’s on the ice for the Leafs. Sundin, Kubina and McCabe were killing the penalty. If we lose games like this during the regular season, us vocal Maple Leaf fans are going to be calling for someone’s head.