Maple Leafs down Sens in rescheduled game
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Santorelli's short-handed goal in the second period was part of three unanswered scores and put the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead for good en route to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The rivals met for the first time this season after the original game date was postponed back on Oct. 22 when Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was tragically shot and killed while standing guard at the National War Memorial on Parliament Hill.
Peter Holland scored a goal with an assist, while James van Riemsdyk, Josh Leivo and David Clarkson each lit the lamp for Toronto, which has won two straight on the heels of a two-game skid. James Reimer made 37 saves in the win.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris and Mark Stone supplied Ottawa with a goal apiece, and Robin Lehner was saddled with the loss after saving only 25-of-30 shots.
"I thought as the game went on, their competition level was raised and ours got lower," Senators coach Paul MacLean said.
Stone's wrist shot got past Reimer while the Senators were on the power play at 4:04 of the second to give them a 3-2 lead. Leivo evened the score a mere 2:17 later as he got a piece of Trevor Smith's shot.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Toronto grabbed its first lead in the back-and-forth affair just past the midway point of the period when Santorelli received a feed from Holland and wristed it home 24 seconds after Leo Komarov was sent off for hooking.
"We kind of started off a bit slow," said Santorelli. "We kept climbing our way back and stuck with it."
Clarkson tipped in Morgan Rielly's shot from the point to give the Maple Leafs some cushion with under 14 minutes left in the third, and Reimer kept the hosts off the board for the remainder of the night thanks to 14 third-period stops.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hoffman got the scoring started with a goal 2:58 into the first period when he plucked a failed clear off the right-wing boards and beat Reimer with a high shot.
Toronto tied the game with 3:35 remaining in the frame when Holland sent a shot on net that was deflected off the stick of Sens defenseman Cody Ceci and knuckled past Lehner.
Ottawa then regained the lead 1:23 prior to intermission as Turris took a broken pass from Jared Cowen and snapped a wrist shot into the back of the net.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Van Riemsdyk skated into the Senators zone early in the second and put a shot on goal. Lehner made the initial save, but the puck bounced up into the air. The Ottawa defense allowed van Riemsdyk to skate right into the crease and tap the rebound home to make it 2-2.
Game Notes
Toronto has won 10 of its last 12 against Ottawa ... The Sens went 1-for-4 on the power play, while keeping the Maple Leafs scoreless on three power plays.