LEAF TAKEAWAYS: Power play, team spirit overcome sloppiness

Max Domi called it “a playoff type” atmosphere, even if the real thing is a long way off for the Maple Leafs.

Give them credit for bending, not breaking, against an Ottawa Senators team that kept fighting back from multi-goal deficits and tested every weak area that has put Toronto so low in the standings.

Our takeaways on Saturday’s 7-5 win that gives the Leafs half the required points on a vital divisional weekend that continues Sunday in Detroit:

POWER BACK ON

Coach Craig Berube was adamant before the game that fixing the league’s worst unit was as much about his players getting a better feel for the puck as the dramatic firing of assistant coach Marc Savard.

William Nylander and Matthew Knies provided goals on two first-period chances, two in a game being their high since Nov. 8. They’ve been totally blanked in 13 of those ensuing games. Berube pointed out the backhand pass and backhand goal, Auston Matthews to William Nylander, didn’t really owe its origins to anything drastic implemented by assistants Derek Lalonde and Steve Sullivan on Saturday morning.

“Mats made a great play and Willy drove the net to finish it off. That’s skill,” Berube declared. “The other unit (Max Domi setting up Knies in the slot), that’s what we’re looking for.”

It helped that Ottawa’s awful penalty kill was nearly a ranking match for the Leafs power play.

“To get that momentum, a goal or two each night, is huge,” Matthews said of special teams.

Knies, who needed a goal of any kind to break a slump that had stretched from Dec. 4, said he and Domi were working on their relay all morning.

The bottom line is that Berube has added more balance in taking Knies off the top-heavy first group and replacing him with Mattias Maccelli, another player in need of a confidence boost offensively.

Knies, who added the eventual winning goal in the third period, had not potted two in a game since Oct. 28, while Domi, now a first liner again with Bobby McMann replacing Knies, enjoyed a season high three-point night, all assists.

LIKING TROY’S TRY

Troy Stecher came out of a scrum at the buzzer like a pro wrestler, waving his arms to get the usually tepid Scotiabank Arena crowd out of their seats. That’s despite the defenceman’s 5-foot-10 limitations compared to some giant Leafs.

“How awesome was that? Stech is the man,” Domi marvelled. “Honestly, one of the most competitive men I’ve ever played with, who competes right to the end.

“That scrum at the end, with the division we’re in, he’s in there mixing it up. It’s emotional, it’s what you want.”

Interviewed by the game hosts in the building after, Domi thanked the fans and said they’d be a big part of Toronto’s second-half reclaimation project.

Good for Stecher for trying to get something going, even theatrical, and for the Leafs to acknowledge they haven’t given home crowds much to get excited about in the first half.

GIVE TIL IT HURTS

The Leafs certainly aren’t pleasing the coaching staff with a conference high in giveaways that have been well into double figures a few times this month.

Nick Robertson lost a third-period puck to the side of his own net that Joseph Woll saved before Robertson atoned with a goal.

Auston Matthews agreed that wide open hockey is more exciting and the Leafs have many dipsy doodlers, but the captain knew Berube wasn’t going to be thrilled.

“If you want to score, you have to defend hard and do really well in that regard,” Matthews said. “Tonight was that kind of game, you don’t really want to give up that much.”

Are the Leafs back to having to score their way out of trouble? Three empty-netters in the past two games have inflated their total to 13, but wins are needed more than worrying about cosmetics.

The two points moved Toronto within three of a wildcard position, though it still has a formidable seven teams to pass as of Saturday.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

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