Lack of discipline costs Maple Leafs
OTTAWA (AP) -- Darcy Tucker and the Toronto Maple Leafs lost control
and gave the Ottawa Senators plenty of chances to work on their power
play.
Radek Bonk, Mike Fisher, Karel Rachunek and Wade Redden scored
power-play goals as the Ottawa Senators took full advantage of
Toronto's lack of discipline in a fight-filled 4-1 victory over the
Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
"They're emotional games when we play
these guys, there's no doubt about it,'' said Travis Green, who scored
the Maple Leafs' only goal to open the scoring in the first. "We want
to beat them when we play them, and sometimes our emotions do get the
better of us, and tonight we just took too many penalties. They've got
too good of a team for that.''
Tucker, who declined comment after the
game, was given 42 minutes in penalties -- including a double game
misconduct -- 7:30 into the third after setting off a melee involving
players on the Ottawa bench. The Maple Leafs were given 24 penalties
totaling 111 minutes, including 13 penalties for 75 minutes in the
third.
Ottawa drew 12 penalties for 52 minutes and five for 32 minutes
in the third period. "I don't think I've seen a team win a hockey game
where you're in the box as much as we were, I mean, it's impossible at
this level,'' Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin said.
Tucker skated to
the Senators bench and cross-checked Chris Neil before throwing punches
at the Ottawa right wing, who was on the bench. "I didn't see Tucker
coming,'' Neil said. "I kind of heard someone yell from the bench right
at the last second when he caught me with the cross-check, and everyone
came in after that.''
While the fracas was going on, Maple Leafs coach
Pat Quinn banged a stick on the top of the pane of glass at the end of
Toronto's bench. Objects and taunts were tossed between the benches.
"The kid (Neil) spit on him,'' Quinn said. "How do you like that in our
game?'' Neil and Ottawa defenseman Shane Hnidy were also ejected for
fighting during the brawl.
"They can say whatever they want to say,''
Neil said. "I know what I did and didn't do, and I definitely wouldn't
spit.''
Redden's goal came just 31 seconds later to put the Senators up
4-1 at 8:01. Bonk, Fisher and Redden's goals came during three of the
four 5-on-3 advantages Ottawa enjoyed during the latest chippy meeting
between the division -- and provincial -- rivals.
"They were frustrated
with all the power plays we had, and I thought we held our own on the
penalty kill,'' Neil said. "When they had the power play, we did a good
job, and we came out and scored a few on the power play. "The stuff
that happened, it's going to happen. It happened last year with Boston
and L.A., it doesn't matter if it was against the Leafs. It's one of
those things. It is a good rivalry. You've got a lot of Leafs fans
here, and a lot of Sens fans. It was a great atmosphere in the building
and tempers were flaring up, especially when they got down.''
The
Senators -- who lost three players to injury earlier in the game --
finished with 11 skaters after Magnus Arvedson found himself an
unwilling combatant with the Maple Leafs' Tie Domi with 1:23 remaining.
Domi was given 29 minutes in penalties for instigating the fight,
including a game misconduct. He also didn't speak to reporters.
Arvedson was not penalized on the play, though Senators goalie Patrick
Lalime was for leaving his crease.
Ottawa became the first NHL team to
reach 90 points this season, moving one point ahead of Dallas atop the
league standings.
Bonk and Fisher scored 1:33 apart in the second
period to overcome a 1-0 deficit. Rachunek gave the Senators a two-goal
lead at 13:13 with his first goal in 44 games. It came on Ottawa's
fifth power play of the period. Travis Green scored for Toronto, which
has lost three of four. Ottawa won its second in three games to finish
3-3 on a season-high, six-game homestand.
The Senators lost newcomer
Vaclav Varada when he injured his left leg in the first period. Todd
White injured his head in the second, and Martin Havlat left after
reinjuring his groin later in the period.
Green got his 12th goal 6:02
in to give the Maple Leafs an early 1-0 lead. He jumped on a loose puck
behind the net and brought it out front on goalie Patrick Lalime's
stick side before banking a shot in off Lalime's left leg. Bonk tied it
12 seconds into a two-minute, 5-on-3 power-play 6:27 into the second.
Fisher scored his 14th on another two-man advantage at 8:00 to make it
2-1. Rachunek scored during another power play at 13:13 as Ottawa
scored on four of its 11 power-play opportunities.
"I thought our power
play did a tremendous job all night,'' Senators defenseman Curtis
Leschyshyn said. "We showed some good discipline to get on the
five-on-threes. It was very important for us to score those goals and
we did it at pretty much important times, and the second period was a
good example of that.''
Game notes
Sundin, who needs two more points to reach 1,000 for his career, was
held without a point for the fourth straight game. Sundin, who has 427
goals and 571 assists, has played 667 of his 991 regular-season games
with Toronto. He had 135 goals and 199 assists in 324 games during his
first four NHL seasons with Quebec. ... Toronto's Alexander Mogilny had
a nine-game point streak snapped. ... Ottawa held a 42-17 advantage in
shots, including a 19-5 margin in the second.