Ottawa vs. Toronto 1:1
Toronto wins in club's third longest playoff game
TORONTO (AP) -- Gary Roberts was still kicking himself for missing on a 2-on-1 break when another scoring opportunity presented itself.
This one he buried, 4:30 into the third overtime, giving Toronto a 3-2 victory over Ottawa on Saturday night to end the third longest game in Maple Leafs history.
With the teams playing 4-on-4, Roberts got to a loose puck off a faceoff in the Ottawa zone and fired a wrist shot between goalie Patrick Lalime's pads to tie the Eastern Conference semifinal series 1-1.
Roberts admitted he couldn't remember much of his goal. What he couldn't forget was his chance three minutes earlier.
"I was going to take the blame for that," said Roberts, discouraged because it led directly to a Marian Hossa breakaway the other way.
Fortunately, Curtis Joseph made the save.
Joseph silenced his critics, stopping 54 shots. Travis Green and Darcy Tucker also scored for the Maple Leafs, coming off a discouraging 5-0 series-opening loss.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is at Ottawa on Monday.
Sami Salo and Mike Fisher scored for the Senators, who fell short after rallying back from a 2-0 deficit.
"We showed a lot of good things tonight being down 2-0," said Lalime, who stopped 39 shots. "Our goal was to come here and get one. We sure did that so I think there is a lot of positives. We'll go right back at it on Monday."
The three goals were the most Lalime's given up in a game this postseason, in which he has already tied a record with four shutouts. Before Saturday, Lalime had stopped 162 of 164 shots he faced, including 27 in Thursday's series-opening 5-0 win.
Green's goal 4:46 into the game ended Lalime's shutout streak at 128 minutes, 16 seconds.
"It was too bad Lalime was on the losing end," said Wade Redden. "It was a tough way to lose. We came back with two goals. We had our chances but we couldn't put them away."
The game was well short of the Toronto franchise record of 164 minutes, 46 seconds set in a 1-0 victory over Boston in 1933. It was by far the longest game in Senators playoff history, eclipsing the previous mark of 90:35 set in a 3-2 loss to Buffalo on April 23, 1999.
It was also the longest game in the NHL since a Stanley Cup final game between Dallas and New Jersey went 106:21 on June 8, 2000.
The longest overtime game in playoff history went 176 minutes, 30 seconds as Detroit beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 on March 24-25, 1936.
"In those type of games you go finish your shift, go to the bench and get your air, regroup and go back out there," said Roberts. "In those games, mentally you get tired and that's when you make mistakes."
Both teams showed plenty of stamina in trading scoring opportunities down the stretch.
Ottawa's Chris Neil, on a wraparound, had put the puck in the net 8:54 into the second overtime, but it was immediately disallowed because the goal posts had been dislodged.
Two minutes later, Tucker hit a shot off the post, the second one the Maple Leafs rang off the iron in the game.
The win gives the Maple Leafs a huge mental boost.
"We have to build on it," coach Pat Quinn said. "We didn't like our first game very much. Tonight we were a little better, but not as good as we'd like to be or need to be."
Roberts said he's not going to celebrate his first career OT goal for too long.
"My main focus is to enjoy it right now, but realize the series is 1-1," Roberts said. "We're up against a real tough hockey club, and hopefully I can score a few more."
Game notes
Maple Leafs RW Garry Valk did not play because of a groin injury. Also not dressed was RW Alexei Ponikarovsky. In their places were LW Bob Wren, who played in his first career NHL playoff game, and D Anders Eriksson. Both were called up from Toronto's St. John's, Newfoundland, farm club. ... Before giving up Green's game-opening goal, Lalime had allowed one goal over a span of 312-minutes, 9 seconds. ... Maple Leafs D Jyrki Lumme did not return after taking a heavy hit into the boards in the first period. Quinn said Lumme sustained a cut on the back of his head and, what he referred to as, "other upper body problems."
Ottawa's time to end Toronto curse is now
TORONTO -- Ah yes, the triple-overtime game. Thrilling to watch, awful to play in.
Unless you're a goaltender.
That's the sick and twisted aspect of the Stanley Cup playoffs. As the game gets longer, the netminders get relatively stronger. And the skaters start to look like they're playing in tar. No wonder the NHL's longest overtime playoff game ever -- timed by sundial at 116:30 extra minutes back in 1936 -- ended when a man named Mud Bruneteau scored to give the Montreal Maroons a 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Saturday's marathon only lasted 44 extra minutes and change, but by halfway through the second extra session, the rink looked like Rockefeller Center at Christmas. There were enough posts hit to put together a verse of Little Drummer Boy. And shots that rang like cannons in the first period started to come gift-wrapped.
"Drink as much as you can," grinned a giddy Curtis Joseph after his 54-save performance in Toronto's crucial 3-2 series-tying win over Ottawa. "Water, that is."
Let CuJo gloat. Yesterday, the Toronto media called him "Joe Sieve." Today? Well, Leafs backup Corey Schwab can put down the white courtesy phone. Joseph made a series worth of outstanding saves, earned second-star honors, and then made the media wait a half-hour while he played with his kids. So all the Hogtown hacks missed their deadlines. Neener neener.
And to the amazement of bleary-eyed reporters down in Ottawa's locker room, defeated goalie Patrick Lalime -- who only stopped 39 -- smirked through his question-and-answer session.
"We'll go right at it again Monday," Lalime said. Was he tired? "Not really."
Goalies love this stuff. Deep inside, the cocky Ottawa backstop knows he will once again shine when the teams meet in the Corel Centre. (Remember, the Leafs have no snipers.) But what about the rest of Lalime's team? The talk of this series has been of how the boys of Bytown are different than the group that got swept by Toronto in the first round last year.
Well, we're about to find out.
Game 1 of that series ended much as tonight's did -- with a don't-blink stuffer by Mats Sundin. Ottawa never recovered. The Sens shuffled to Toronto down 0-2 with their backs against the wall. But all they did was don a blindfold, light up a cigarette and surrender. Ottawa's Game 4 performance was nothing short of embarrassing. That's why Alexei Yashin is now on Long Island.
Is this team really that much improved?
"It's totally different," snapped defenseman Wade Redden. "I don't remember what that felt like."
It didn't feel like anything for the Leafs, and that was the problem. Ottawa never laid a glove on the men in blue and white, and so Toronto was able to come right back in Game 2 and beat up on the home team as if they had a week off between games.
This series is much more evenly matched with hits and shots aplenty from both sides. But then there's that niggling intangibles category, where the Leafs always have an advantage over the Sens. The entire town of Ottawa has a John Candy-sized inferiority complex when it comes to Toronto. Think Red Sox vs. Yankees, only chillier. And more lopsided.
Sure, the series is even going back to Corel. Sure, the Sens got their split. But the Leafs have the upper hand simply by being the Leafs. Hey, are you going to bet on the BoSox just because they look like a winner this year? Double dare ya.
"It could've gone either way," shrugged Redden after the loss.
And now the series can go either way. So sit back and expect a marathon. Oh, and if you're an Ottawa fan, you should really drink as much as you can.
Labatt's, that is.
Eric Adelson is a staff writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at eric.adelson@espn.com.
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