@ Ottawa

The annual cycle of delusional hope officially restarts. It took all of 47 seconds for Calle Jarnkrok to convince the fan base that this is definitely the year. By the time Nicholas Robertson and William Villeneuve piled on to make it a 3-0 lead in the first period, the parade route was practically being mapped out on Yonge Street. It was a clinical, efficient start that felt suspiciously un-Leafs-like, which naturally meant a total structural collapse was looming just over the horizon.

True to form, a 4-0 lead would have been too easy, so the defensive lapses arrived right on schedule. Ridly Greig—of course it was him—started the Ottawa comeback before Matthew Barbolini briefly stemmed the bleeding. But in classic fashion, the comfort evaporated faster than a lead in a Game 7. Arthur Kaliyev and Olle Lycksell pulled the Senators within one, and the final frame turned into a frantic exercise in puck-watching as the shot clock climbed to a lopsided 35-20 in favor of Ottawa.

A 4-3 win on the road is technically a victory, but getting outshot nearly two-to-one by the Senators isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the defensive core. We survived the late surge, which is a marginal improvement over the usual catastrophic implosion, but let’s keep the celebratory tattoos on hold. It’s a win in the standings and a loss for our collective blood pressure, just the way this team likes it.