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TORONTO — The Ottawa Senators exited the Air Canada Centre with injuries to Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher and upset at their going-nowhere provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Senators drubbed the Leafs 8-2 last night to inch closer to a playoff berth, but they were angry that Leafs forward Mark Bell took out Alfredsson in the first period with a questionable blindside hit.
Alfredsson was hit by Bell midway through the opening period after the Ottawa captain made a pass and had his head down. The Senators felt Bell should have let up.
"If they played like that all year, we could accept it, but Mark Bell running and hitting a guy blindside, …" Ottawa coach and general manager Bryan Murray said. "I didn't like the hit."
The scoreline accurately reflected the cover of this week's Maclean's Magazine. (Maclean's Magazine)
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Neither referee, Don Van Massenhoven nor Kelly Sutherland, thought the hit deserved a penalty. Alfredsson had his helmet knocked off and suffered a bloody lip and also hurt his knee. After taking a shift early in the second period, the Senators' captain retired to the dressing room for the evening.
Bell did not agree with the assessment that he caught Alfredsson with an elbow.
"It was a clean hit, guy cutting across the middle, takes a shot, I hit him," he said. "No, I hit him with my shoulder."
Toronto coach Paul Maurice wondered where that sort of physical play was all season.
"We should've seen a lot more of those during the course of the year," he said. "It was a good hit. It was clean."
Fisher departed in the first period, also with a knee injury. Murray was vague as to the seriousness of both injuries, although Fisher was walking around without any discomfort after the game.
"They're both out for some time," said Murray, who added that they both were unlikely to play in the Senators' regular-season finale at home against the Boston Bruins tonight. Ottawa, which snapped a three-game losing string, needs a single point against Boston to make the playoffs.
The Senators were up 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes and 5-1 after second period. Antoine Vermette had three goals, including one of three short-handed markers. Dany Heatley scored twice, while Cody Bass, Jason Spezza and Dean McAmmond added singles.
The Leafs have allowed 10 short-handed goals this season. Bell and Dominic Moore scored for Toronto. Bell, a disappointment this season, scored his first goal since Boxing Day. His season has been limited to 34 games because of his 15-game suspension to begin the season and missing another 32 with a broken orbital bone.
It was probably a good idea that the Leafs shelved their tradition of distributing their game-worn sweaters via a draw to lucky fans immediately after their regular-season finale at the ACC.
Most Toronto fanatics would have likely given the jerseys back, judging by the anger that was spewed by the denizens of the nose-bleed sections following another embarrassing loss at home.
The Leafs, who will conclude their sad-sack season against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre tomorrow, finished with an 18-17-6 record at home. Only the New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings had worse home records.
"You have to be responsible for being a part of it," Toronto forward Darcy Tucker said. "Going into it you want to be part of the solution, but we didn't get the job done. To end this way [at home] was disappointing."
Before the game, there was a collection of fans assembled in front of the ACC displaying their displeasure with a third consecutive season without a playoff appearance. They were hawking bags for fans to wear over their heads and T-shirts with the slogan upsetfans.com.
