Jack Campbell stands out in Maple Leafs' unspectacular win over Senators

Ride the wave, won’t you, Jack Campbell?

The hottest hand they have between the pipes at the moment stopped 25 shots, and the Toronto Maple Leafs avoided a spectacular disappointment with an unspectacular 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

It seemed as if the Leafs were stuck in neutral for most of the game, only able to jump into a front-running position when Auston Matthews scored his 42nd goal of the season on an individual effort to match David Pastrnak atop the goal-scoring leaderboard. But despite having more and more of the possession throughout, the Sens simply don’t boast the same sort of high-end skill in the attacking zone, and for that reason could not convert their mild level of sustained effectiveness into anything meaningful on the scoresheet.

Jake Muzzin and William Nylander scored opportunistic goals to end Marcus Hogberg’s night early and help the Leafs to perhaps an undeserved advantage, while Mitch Marner iced the game (and Campbell’s third win for the Leafs) with a wonderful lob wedge that bounced into the back of the empty net from inside the Leafs’ end.

Toronto will be back at it Sunday night in Buffalo.

Until then, four points:

Feeling fortunate

While they certainly don’t stack up in a comparative sense, I’m not sure the Maple Leafs would be in a rush to see D.J. Smith and the Ottawa Senators again soon. Because for the second time this month, Toronto’s provincial rivals have been able to take something off their fastball.

Two weeks ago, the Senators conceded quite a few attempts at their net, but managed to keep the Leafs off the scoresheet entirely at even strength. This time around, the Leafs managed three goals under the condition, but saw the Senators clamp down on chances otherwise and mostly control time of possession themselves.

It says something that Campbell didn’t really achieve anything special tonight but was still by far the most impressive player, simply by out-playing Hogberg.

Deja vu

What’s the first thing that entered your mind when Auston Matthews inevitably burned Nikita Zaitsev in their needlessly underscored head-to-head showcase tonight which somehow didn’t wildly favour the Maple Leafs sniper?

While it wasn’t prefaced with a dizzying sequence in neutral ice and then a strip on a future Hall of Fame defenseman, to me (and @TheLeafsIMO and Hockey Night in Canada) it delivered crystal-clear flashbacks of his brilliant individual effort for his second of four goals in his NHL debut three-and-a-half years ago in the exact same building.

When Matthews’ teammates talk about what separates his scoring touch from everyone else’s, they always use the word deception. You would have to ask Craig Anderson and Hogberg if Matthews effectively withheld his intentions in these moments, but what might be confusing enough here is simply his willingness to take — and, more importantly, be dangerous with — an otherwise low-percentage attempt when other options might have been available.

(By the way, for those expecting Matthews to torch Zaitsev all night, and allow fans to make a mockery of D.J. Smith’s pregame comments, the former Leafs defenseman finished with a 14-4 even-strength shot attempt share against the Leafs sniper in just short of nine minutes).

The stack

Shoutout to Craig Anderson for reminding us that there once was a time when NHL goalies didn’t have structure, positioning or form drilled into their subconsciouses at an early age through private tutorials, and just sorta winged it out there

This two-pad stack on Zach Hyman to initially deny the Leafs of an insurance goal was from another vintage:

The lob

Since we’re on the topic of appreciating the finer things from the game, I’ll leave you with Marner, and the perfect height and weight he put behind his aerial attempt at the Senators’ empty net.

More Maple Leafs coverage on Yahoo Sports