The Battle of Ontario was a complete misnomer on Saturday, as the home side showed no fight at all. During what’s been a supremely disappointing campaign, the Toronto Maple Leafs submitted one of their worst efforts in recent memory, losing 5-2 to the Ottawa Senators.

After Morgan Rielly opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs during the first period, it was a complete capitulation.

Joseph Woll was replaced by Anthony Stolarz, after Dylan Cozens extended the Senators’ lead to 5-2 during a second period power play. It was Cozens’ second goal of the contest. Drake Batherson also scored twice for the Senators, while Thomas Chabot added a single. Rielly and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs.

Toronto’s season for all intents and purposes has been over for weeks, and an embarrassing loss to a provincial rival should further underscore the need to sell aggressively ahead of the NHL trade deadline. It was a brutal showing from the Maple Leafs, where no discernible system or positives could be found on display.

“It was embarrassing to be honest with you. We have to have more pride in our play,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said post-game.

It’s a footnote now, but the Maple Leafs actually started the game well. John Tavares drew a roughing penalty on Dylan Cozens during the game’s opening shift. Morgan Rielly converted an Auston Matthews feed just as the ensuing power play expired, and the Maple Leafs appeared to be rolling. Rielly’s goal was the true point of demarcation, as the Maple Leafs completely collapsed from there onwards.

Toronto did not record a shot in the final 16:57 of the first period, getting outshot 16-2 during the first frame. The shot attempts were 28-4 in Ottawa’s favour, while Toronto controlled a mere four percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5. Ottawa constantly retained possession as Toronto flubbed passes and didn’t play any discernible system throughout the contest.

Although the Senators took control from the five-minute mark onwards, it was still tied at the first intermission. Cozens cleaned up a rebound from Thomas Chabot’s point shot as Troy Stecher failed to box out (in what was a poor game overall from the waiver add) and the Senators never looked back.

Drake Batherson extended the Senators’ lead, as the Auston Matthews line looked completely lost and out of sorts in the defensive end. William Nylander immediately responded, but Batherson added his second goal of the contest a minute later, and the Maple Leafs completely fell flat. It wasn’t merely that the Maple Leafs lost, it was the uninspired manner in which they were defeated. This may be the final look at this iteration of the Maple Leafs as we know it.

Craig Berube appears to be a coach out of answers. Berube preached a north-south edict for the better part of two seasons, a philosophy that has been roundly ignored in favour of the free form chaos we saw on Saturday. And if the head coach’s role is to extract the maximum value out of the roster placed in front of him, it’s fair to say that Berube has failed profoundly this season.

A group led by Auston Matthews and William Nylander routinely looked like one of the highest-octane offences in the league, and that was true even this season, during a miserable opening 25 games. The NHL’s worst defensive team also looks out of gas offensively, and couldn’t generate any consistent, meaningful possession against a Senators team that doesn’t inspire fear in their opponents.

With 22 games remaining, Berube hasn’t found any line combinations that he’s comfortable with, or any that seem to be working with any real efficacy. Berube was tasked with overhauling a talented offensive team into a pragmatic, defensively responsible side. He hasn’t fulfilled this mandate, and it appears that he may be out of answers during his second year behind the Maple Leafs’ bench.

“I’ve got to figure it out with the guys here. That’s my job,” Berube said post-game.

After a five-game hiatus, Easton Cowan was re-inserted into the lineup. It would be a stretch to call Cowan a bright spot, as no Maple Leafs player deserved real praise after Saturday’s showing, but he was admittedly among the team’s best players on Saturday.

Cowan used his speed and opportunism to create plays for his linemates, including a Nicolas Roy shot that hit the crossbar in the second frame. He never gave up on plays, even as the Senators controlled possession for the entirety of the contest.

During the final minute of the game, Cowan broke free but was stopped by Linus Ullmark on a breakaway attempt. As the Maple Leafs head towards a re-tool, Cowan will need more than the 13:34 he received on Saturday.

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