Takeaways from Leafs' embarrassing collapse in preseason loss to Senators

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Ottawa Senators for the second half of a home-and-home in the preseason Tuesday night and, well, it was an embarrassing 3-2 overtime loss to the divisional rivals. Not only did the Maple Leafs lose in their own building to a Senators team that was barely half-full of NHL talent, but they did while icing almost their entire squad.

Easton Cowan and Ben Danford were essentially the only Leafs on Tuesday night who are most likely not going to be playing on opening night. Everyone was there (except the injured Max Domi) and accounted for and still, they lose to this little pesky Ottawa team because of some bounces going the other way.

Shane Pinto had both the game-tying and game-winning goal for Ottawa, while the Leafs at least got some good signs of offense. Here are some takeaways.

Collapse in third period

It was what caused the loss, really. The Leafs were riding high and through 40 minutes, were comfortably winning by a score of 2-0 thanks to Auston Matthews and Bobby McMann both re-discovering some of their offense. Toronto lost the shots battle 17-8 in the final third, the Sens had double the scoring chances (12-6) and had 28 shot attempts compared to the Leafs' 11. They really just took hold and ended up getting rewarded for doing exactly that.

You can blame it on the Leafs getting complacent or just unlucky. Even something like Fabian Zetterlund opening the scoring for the Senators with a second-chance shorthanded chance -- it was just an end result of the momentum that Ottawa was building to that point.

The positive to take from this stupid-looking collapse, if there is any, is that the Senators didn't score a goal at 5-on-5. They didn't even score one on a normal 5-on-4 power play either. Zetterlund's tally was shorthanded, Pinto tied the game with a 6-on-4 goal, and then they won it in the 3-on-3 overtime. But, as we can clearly see just from the waves of offense that Ottawa was sending to the Toronto zone, they deserved those goals and eventually the win.

For the Leafs, it all comes down to trying to stifle a young team from getting carried away offensively. To kill any momentum the second they discover the tides of the game turning to favour their opponent.

Dennis Hildeby did all he could

Just to set the record straight, it was Artur Akhtyamov who was in between the pipes for all three of Ottawa's goals. After 40 minutes of actual perfection, the Maple Leafs decided to pull Dennis Hildeby, who started the game, in favour of the younger Russian.

Now is where we get positive about the goaltending, because Hildeby just absolutely stood on his head for the first two periods. A perfect 23-for-23, saving everything that came his way and he looked like he was on top of the hockey world.

If this game was to see if Akhtyamov might eventually usurp Hildeby for the starting position with the Marlies, well it did not happen that way and the heirarchy was clearly defined within just 60 minutes.

Top line figuring out some communication

It was honestly kind of surprising. Matias Maccelli made his preseason debut next to Auston Matthews and Matthew Kines to audition to be the Mitch Marner replacement on the Leafs' top line and for the first few shifts, tihngs looked rough. Missed passes, overskating opportunities, not being open for potential scoring chances; there was just clearly a disconnect.

But as the game went on, the plays were developed and more passes connected. Even in the early part of the second period, Maccelli tried to pull off some fancy playmaking and do a backhand, quasi spinning pass to set up Matthews from dozens of feet away on the other side of the zone.

Yeah, that would've been so pretty if it ended in a goal and we would probably be clamoring for Maccelli to permanently be on that line, trying to do his best Marner impression. But especially when it comes to some out-of-the-blue passes like that one or just trying to get more of an offensive read, it will take time to know each other's tendencies for all parties.

At least Tuesday was a little bit of a positive sign.

Bobby McMann back on the score sheet

After it seemed like the 20-goal scorer would actually never score a goal again thanks to not scoring a goal in the final 11 games of the regular season and then also not being able to put a puck in the back of the net through the 13 playoff games, Bobby McMann finally got one. Yes, it is preseason and it really doesn't matter, but just reminding himself that he can actually score a goal is a positive sign.

And it was a pretty one.

Easton Cowan connects with McMann on the power play to break the drought. A quick little pass to the netfront man, who then skillfully lifts the puck to put it over the Senators netminder with a backhand and double the lead for the Maple Leafs. Which, of course came undone but that's not important.

The Maple Leafs continue their preseason on Thursday as they visit the Montreal Canadiens for the start of their second home-and-home.