TORONTO – The identical struggles that plagued the Ottawa Senators of their collection opener in opposition to the Toronto Maple Leafs appeared like they returned for Recreation 2 on Tuesday evening.
A powerful Ottawa turnaround after the primary intermission finally led to time beyond regulation however it wasn’t sufficient to get on the board within the best-of-seven Battle of Ontario.
Max Domi scored within the further session to present Toronto a 3-2 win and 2-0 collection lead, however the Senators will take loads of positives again to the nation’s capital.
“I actually favored the best way we performed tonight,” mentioned Senators head coach Travis Inexperienced. “It was an enormous step for our group.”
After dropping a 6-2 choice in Recreation 1, the Senators lacked spark and had been often on their heels within the opening interval of the rematch.
Goaltender Linus Ullmark once more appeared shaky from the outset, giving up two objectives on Toronto’s first 4 pictures.
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Morgan Rielly opened the scoring at 3:43 and the Maple Leafs’ power-play unit rapidly delivered on its lone alternative.
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John Tavares made it 2-0 at 8:20, simply 18 seconds after Artem Zub was despatched off for tripping.
The Senators, who’re making their first post-season look in eight years, got here out with extra soar within the second interval.
Ridly Greig was efficient in getting underneath the Maple Leafs’ pores and skin and Brady Tkachuk caught a break at 15:41 when his backpass hit Brandon Carlo’s skate and crossed the road.
Ottawa stored the stress on the house workforce and it paid off at 14:47 of the third interval. Adam Gaudette tipped Tyler Kleven’s shot previous Anthony Stolarz to silence the Scotiabank Enviornment crowd.
“I don’t assume that they had many grade-A possibilities,” mentioned Tkachuk. “It was a good checking recreation and it comes all the way down to time beyond regulation, comes down to 1 shot. And yeah, issues occur.
“You’re not all the time going to get the bounces.”
Ottawa outshot Toronto 28-21 and had a 44-25 edge in hits. The Maple Leafs had a whopping 32-6 benefit in blocked pictures.
“We spent quite a lot of time of their zone,” Inexperienced mentioned. “We give their workforce credit score. They blocked loads pictures. And typical playoff hockey, although. However to play a street recreation like that was very encouraging for our workforce.
“And now we’ve obtained to play a bit of higher subsequent recreation.”
The numbers should not in Ottawa’s favour because the collection shifts to Canadian Tire Centre for the following two video games.
The Senators are 0-9 all-time after dropping the primary two video games in best-of-seven collection. Toronto has a 10-0 report in best-of-seven collection after successful the primary two video games at house.
Recreation 3 is about for Thursday evening and Recreation 4 will likely be performed Saturday night.
“We’re excited to play in entrance of our followers there,” mentioned Gaudette. “We’ve a loud constructing and it’s going to be robust on them to return in and play.
“The place our recreation is at proper now, we’re in a great place.”
If a fifth recreation is required, it is going to be performed April 29 in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed April 22, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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