LIVE BLOG: LEAFS-SENS OPENER

SENS 4, LEAFS 1: IT'S HARSH REALITY TIME

You have to wonder how long it will before Mats Sundin is going to grow frustrated with such second-rate hockey. The stoic Swede is never going to come right out and say it, but he isn't that young, and he still doesn't have a Stanley Cup ring, so what use is it to him to stick around for a long-overdue Leafs rebuilding project?

Aside from an early flurry that Sens goalie Martin Gerber was easily up to withstanding, and a brief uprising late in the second after Sundin's penalty-shot goal gave the Leafs some fleeting hope, the Sens didn't need any great show of skill to dump the Leafs 4-1 in the season opener tonight in T-Dot. It was only a three-goal game, but there was never really any hope.

The biggest insult was that the Sens just seemed to turn it on and off. They got a power-play goal late the first, two goals 1:16 apart midway through the second, and that was more than enough against a team that at one point, had John Pohl, Jeff O'Neill and and Aleksander Suglobov as a power-play line. No wonder the ACC was quieter than this writer's love life.

The truth is it was impossible for many of the Sens to convince themselves they needed their A-game to beat Toronto. That's the biggest insult of all.

Just to add insult to injury, the Sens seemed all too eager to tack on a later power-play goal after O'Neill and Darcy Tucker, the usual suspects, took some brain-dead penalties in the final minutes. Then there was Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was AWOL most of the night, getting a cheap empty-netter in the final 30 seconds, with an assist from one of the linesmen.

Let's not dwell on this game, though. Yes, the power play (0-for-5) was flaccid and the defence was slower than molasses in January, but that was pretty much expected. The question Leafs fans have to ask -- and you can bet your sweet bippy at least one columnist or talk-radio guy will try to frame it this way -- is if our predicament is better than last year's?

In other words, would you rather be at rock bottom and facing a rebuilding year, or have it like last year, playing on borrowed time with over-the-hill veterans who shall remain nameless? (cough, Jason Allison; cough, Eric Lindros.)

That's the upshot. Andrew Raycroft was decent in goal. He was probably third-star worthy, with Gerber (33 saves) first and Patrick Eaves second.

THIRD PERIOD

Final score: Sens 4, Leafs 1

Shots: Sens 13-11 (36-34 overall)
Power play: Sens 1/6 Leafs 0/5

• Daniel Alfredsson was about the last Sen who deserved to score a cheap empty-netter.
• Can't TSN's Pierre McGuire just say "breakaway" instead of "breakaway situation"? Yeesh.
• Gerber was sharp tonight... solid, stolid between the pipes. His best save probably came on a Leafs power play with about seven minutes left, when quickly moved to his left to stop Tucker.
• Really not much to say here as the third goes along. The Leafs had a power play 2:26 into the frame when Chris Phillips went off for hauling down John Pohl (one of the few Leafs forwards who's shown any zip), but once again, Ottawa had the short-man advantage. Have the Leafs given any thought to trying the "inverted points" on the power play? It doesn't look like any team is going to let Bryan McCabe ever uncork a shot from the blue line.
• My mother called during the intermission (I'd had a rather bad day at work), and after chatting, I bounced the Belak joke off her, about how he'd looked completely out of his element when Jason Spezza buzzed around him earlier in the game. She said my dad remarked that Belak resembled him in his Monday night old-timers league.

SECOND PERIOD

End second period: Sens 3, Leafs 1

Shots: Leafs 13-10 (two-period total: 23-all)
Power play: Sens 0/1 (1/3 game), Leafs 0/1 (0/3 game)

• Sundin's penalty-shot goal late in the second has given the Leafs some confidence going into the third period... at least this won't be a blowout, since Ottawa seems to be puttering along on three, maybe four cylinders.
• Alfredsson, the other Swedish captain, has already been called out once on the night by McGuire, and probably should have been again after a rather lackadaisical shift. The Leafs had a 2-on-1 against the Phillips / Anton Volchenkov pair -- Phillips made an ill-advised move to level Alex Ponikarovsky with an open-ice hit -- which ended with Gerber making a nice save. On the backcheck, though, Alfie made a lazy, cross-ice clearing attempt, which Hal Gill headed off, keeping the play inside the line. Meantime, Mike Fisher, whom some Sens fans are clamouring to see named captain, is having a good night, with four shots on goal through two periods.
• After almost 30 minutes with not much in the way of scintillating hockey (thank you, Danny Gallivan), both teams were scoring like Scott Baio for a moment there. The Sens got two goals in 76 seconds to go up 3-0. Hal Gill looked like he was stuck in cement as Chris Neil blew by him to go in and score the second Sens goal. However, the Leafs almost immediately get one back, as Mats Sundin scores on a penalty shot, with his shot sneaking through Gerber's five-hole and oozing across the line. The play was set up by Sundin loafing behind the defence -- Phillips and Volchenkov, a new pairing for Ottawa -- and gets the long pass.
• The Leafs power play has been so anemic that you could say Ottawa has the short-man advantage. On their third opportunity, they didn't generate anything, and barely avoided giving up a short-handed goal. On a partial 2-on-1, Dany Heatley's shot rebounded toward Antoine Vermette, but hopped over the Senator's stick.

FIRST PERIOD

End first period: Sens 1, Leafs 0

Shots: Sens 13-10
Power play: Sens 1/2, Leafs 0/2

• Eaves, everyone's hockey pool sleeper since he's playing on a line with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, gets the Sens on the board with a power-play goal with 31 seconds left in the first. It was your basic pinball goal; with the Leafs short-handed (Wade Belak was off for the second time in the period), Tom Preissing came in off the point for a one-timer, and the rebound goes straight to Eaves.
• Poor Belak. The move Spezza put on Wade Belak that forced him to stick his knee out and take the penalty that led to Ottawa's goal was almost comical. It's like watching a guy who never played higher than bantam house league all his life let himself get talked into joining his buddy's weekly pickup game, only to get on the ice and discover everybody played Junior B or higher. Let's not rag on Wade, though: Blame the general manager who can't find someone who can actually skate at a NHL level.
• Whatever you do, don't challenge Pierre McGuire to a game of Scrabble for money. After Fisher faked out McCabe behind the Leafs net, he noted how Fisher did it "by being quick, nifty, agile, skillful and smart." Short words, but plenty of triple word score potential.
• Well, at least there's little sign the Leafs will have to worry about being overly reliant on the power play, where they scored 42% of their goals in '05-06. Two extra-man chances this period, and all of one shot, which Gerber easily steered aside.
• This is pretty close to being a whole lotta nothin'; it's enough to make you want to flip over the Yankees-Tigers playoff game on Fox/Rogers Sportsnet, and it's a rain delay. Yours truly has never been to a Leafs game at Air Canada Centre, but a friend of mine tells you that if you luck into good seats, your friends will inevitably caution you not to get too raucous, unless you want to draw disapproving looks from the Bay St. types who seldom look up from their CrackBerries.
• Speaking of the CrackBerry, TSN is reporting that Jim Balsillie, founder of RIM, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company that makes the infernal but essential handheld device, has bought the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.