And, oh, how sweet it is. Giordano received a beautiful 90-foot pass from William Nylander in overtime. The 38-year-old’s legs tightened with an explosion on Ottawa Senators goalkeeper Anton Forsberg. And Giordano broke the short side of the freezer, a shot as clean as his shaved canopy. The Jordano snipe completed the thrilling return victory 5-4 and became the oldest Toronto Maple Leaf in history to score in overtime. John Tavares hugged the new old man from the left, Auston Matthews hugged him from the right and the rest of the Leafs – chasing the best regular season of the franchise – burst into smiles. “Whenever you score, you usually feel very good. “But the winners of the game are something you always remember, for sure,” said Giordano. “It was a very fun game to play.” Giordano did not enlist to light lamps for his childhood team. Obtained within the trading period to get out of the net, make safe decisions in his own zone and cleverly pick up the stick to Toronto’s top strikers. Seeing Giordano not only set two goals in the Leafs’ last rally, but earn two coveted points with his blade is both a bonus and a boost. “It’s big. These are big goals,” said coach Sheldon Keefe. great job for us. ” Alexander Kerfoot has been a Toronto maple leaf long enough to know that reshuffled senators refuse to give free points to their provincial rivals. He realized that the 40-point difference between the two clubs would not translate to ice, no matter how many fans who supported the team to the playoffs hiked hours east along 401 trying to turn Saturday into a home bonus. match. “We have played well since I was in this team. They have a lot of skills ahead. “A younger team that plays in every game without losing anything,” Kerfoot said before the game. “We know they will do it. “If we are not ready to go, they can take it from us.” This is what they did in the opening period. Sure, Maple Leafs controlled the flow of the game. But they also failed to win their power plays for the fourth consecutive game and gave the best chance of the night when Justin Holl and TJ Brodie were caught deep. Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle counterattacked on a 2-on-0, and the 20-year-old German ended with a flame, throwing in the window to celebrate the first hit of the night. “We made a stupid mistake that we let them get the 2-on-0. “At that time, we were carrying the game and we were in complete control,” said Keefe. A point explosion by Michael Del Zotto doubled Sens’ lead, temporarily calming the main blue and white crowd out of it. “We do not want to give anything to anyone,” Ottawa coach DJ Smith said before the game. “You will not enter and you will walk everywhere on us. Our effort will be there. “We want to be known as such – you will never get free against us.” Toronto rallied in a much more fun second period, with a trio of goals from Kyle Clifford (his first of the season), a renewed Michael Bunting and a snipe by Mitch Marner. Ottawa took another from Dylan Grambrell, setting the stage at 3-3 with a direction to third. Stützle rushed to a sloppy gift in his own belt from Ilya Lyubushkin and won over Erik Källgren’s second past to restore the lead, the 20th of the season’s second student. “He will be a big player in this league for a long time,” Marner said. But the second night of Marner’s – a greasy marker from his boot – equalized the game again and stirred up the crowd, which erupted in great support for the visitors. “THE DEPARTURE! Leaves! I’m going! ‘ “The chant was as loud as it could be. Well, that’s amazing. And that feeds us,” Bading said. It fed Toronto into a wild finish of the fourth period, spotted by Giordano’s heroic exclamation mark. “There was a good buzz every time you went out for shifts,” Giordano said. “I am impressed by the attitude of the team. The kids, you might say, expect to win every night. “ Now, in addition to second place in the Atlantic Division, the Maple Leafs will return home to play the second half of the Easter weekend, Sunday in turn, against the New York Islanders by lottery. Fox’s Fast 5 • Former Island captain John Tavares said that Mike Bossy (rest in peace) was a huge man and supported him greatly, especially in his early years on the Show. “He just liked the game and he liked talking about hockey and, in particular, scoring,” Tavares recalls. “If not the best, he was one of the best in it and he was part of one of the best dynasties in NHL history and he had a remarkable career. “It was nice for me to talk to him about what made him a great player and how he saw the game. These are the things that you love the most and that always stay with you “. • The Maple Leafs’s power play has been canceled on its last 17 chances, with one well-aimed goal against. “The last three games (were not good), but before that we ran 42 percent in an eight-game division,” Keefe said. “Let’s not get too carried away with not going well for a while.” A smiling William Nylander has at least a sense of humor about the worst game of his career and the worst in Group 15: “I was joking with some of the kids. I say, “If you want a minus, come play with me.” • Senate coach DJ Smith is flattered when he hears his name shouting as a candidate to be behind the bench for Team Canada at next month’s World Cup in Finland. “If I have the chance, I will definitely be available,” Smith said. “We will see what happens here. “I have never been to a world championship.” • Keefe and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse sent playoff wishes to each other on Friday. They keep in touch and Keefe uses Nurse as a resource to guide them in this market. “It’s definitely an exciting time to be a sports fan in Toronto, there’s no doubt about it,” said Keefe, who also watches the Blue Jays. “There are many reasons to pay attention and try to learn what we can from (the Raptors), but only to see the excitement they have been able to create for our city.”
