Senators dominate Maple Leafs for important win in playoff race

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The Ottawa Senators had a dominant game against their provincial rivals beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.

Anthony Stolarz was expected to get the start but took a puck to the throat during warm-ups and was sent to hospital for precautionary imaging putting Joseph Woll back in action. Woll had faced 36 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina on Friday night.

Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, Warren Foegele, Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa. Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence added two assists each, and Woll stopped 38 shots.

John Tavares and Easton Cowan scored for the Maple Leafs, who were without captain Auston Matthews who had knee surgery on Thursday. Linus Ullmark made 12 saves.

Trailing 3-1 to start the third the Leafs made it close with a goal by Cowan.

The Senators regained the two-goal lead midway through the period when Amadio scored his 12th of the season, tucking in Spence's rebound. On an odd-man rush Dylan Cozens found Greig in the slot.

The Senators made it 2-0 midway through the period when Giroux grabbed Kleven's rebound and backhanded it past Woll.

Foegele made it 3-0 with just over two minutes remaining when his shot deflected off Simon Benoit, but 21 seconds later Tavares completed the give-and-go with Cowan and beat Ullmark under the arm.

Ottawa opened the scoring at 14:58 of the first with a power-play goal. Stutzle stepped into the faceoff circle and wristed a shot clean past Woll.

Morgan Rielly missed the game and is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Up next

Maple Leafs: At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

Senators: At the New York Rangers on Monday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl