The Buds can take a few positives and a few negatives away from last night’s game, further illustrating that — no matter the hype or expectations coming in — all teams have plenty to work on early in the year.
Fans wanted to see more offensive-zone pressure and puck possession from the Leafs against the Sens, and they got that. Keeping score effects from the latter half of the third period in mind, the Leafs finished with 65% of the shot attempts and 58% of the shot attempts from the slot. The Leafs didn’t take advantage of those opportunities offensively, however, and there were some ugly defensive breakdowns in addition to some less-than-stellar goaltending en route to a 5-3 loss.