The first Ottawa Senators home playoff game in nearly a decade certainly had its fair share of fireworks and penalties, but Simon Benoit’s overtime winner gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 win, a 3-0 series lead, and put them one win away from ending the Ottawa’s season in a sweep. Thursday’s matchup featured everything from hard hits, point-blank denials, and third period heroics from team captains Auston Matthews and Brady Tkachuk. After 60 minutes of back-and-forth intense action, the Battle of Ontario needed overtime for the second straight game, and Benoit bested Ottawa yet again, like he did in Game 2 when he assisted on Max Domi’s OT winner.
Toronto starter Anthony Stolarz made 18 saves on 20 shots in Thursday’s win and Sens’ starter Linus Ullmark made 17 stops on 20 shots in the second consecutive overtime defeat.
Game Recap
Ottawa’s first home playoff game in nearly eight years got off to an intense, hard-hitting, and scoreless start. The Sens controlled possession and pace of play for the first half of the period, as they held the Maple Leafs to just one shot through the first 10 minutes. The Sens’ best chance to strike first came with an early 4-on-3 power play opportunity, but the Maple Leafs and Stolarz turned away or blocked every Ottawa shot.
The Maple Leafs seemed to find their legs in the last five minutes of the opening frame, and their best chance came when William Nylander had a breakaway opportunity at the 3:30 mark, but Ullmark swallowed his point-blank slap shot attempt. Late in the first, Tkachuk was called for a roughing penalty on Pontus Holmberg, only for the Maple Leafs’ power play opportunity to disappear when Matthew Knies was handed a cross-checking minor as time expired.
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Ottawa held an 8-7 shot advantage and out-hit Toronto 22-19 at the end of the first period. There were three penalties called on Toronto, while the Sens were called for two of their own.
Special teams played a major role in the second period as both teams were able to get on the scoreboard with the man advantage. Ottawa capitalized on a Nylander tripping penalty, which gave the Sens a two-man advantage, when Claude Giroux beat Stolarz blocker side for his first of the playoffs at 1:38. Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson picked up assists on the goal, and Giroux’s tally gave the Sens their first lead of the series.
Toronto would even the score with a power-play goal of their own after Shane Pinto was called for roughing. After a blocked Nylander shot landed in front of Knies, his backhand shot trickled past Ullmark and the goal line for his second of the series and the game-tying goal at 8:31 of the second. Mitch Marner and Nylander picked up assists on the power-play goal.
The Sens outshot Toronto 10-6 in the second period, as the game remained tied heading into the third.
The Maple Leafs’ captain broke the tie just 32 seconds into the third when he put home a Marner feed from behind the Ottawa net for his first of the playoffs. The Senators’ captain tied the game at 11:22 with a wrist shot that beat Stolarz blocker side. Tkachuk’s second of the series came on Ottawa’s first shot of the third period.
Despite the two goals, Toronto and Ottawa didn’t register that many shots. The Maple Leafs outshot the Senators 5-2 as regulation expired and Game 3 headed to overtime.
Overtime ended at the 1:19 mark when Benoit’s slap shot off a Matthews faceoff win beat Ullmark glove side for the game winner. The Maple Leafs now have a 3-0 series lead and can end Ottawa’s season on Saturday night (April 26) at the Canadian Tire Centre.
