Ottawa Senators sink Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Ottawa Senators sink Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3. Here is the game summary and highlights from the game played on Saturday, February 18, 2017

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

Morgan Rielly put the Maple Leafs on the board at 14:38 of the second period. Rielly has registered all three of his goals on home ice this season.

Nazem Kadri scored the second Maple Leafs goal of the night at 17:52 of the second period. Kadri has 12 goals in 23 career games vs. Ottawa.

William Nylander picked up the secondary assist on Rielly’s second period goal and later added a power play goal at 2:04 of the third period. Nylander has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) in four games vs. Ottawa this season.

Auston Matthews registered the primary assist on Reilly’s second period goal and notched a second primary assist on Nylander’s third period goal. Of Matthews’ 21 assists this season, 14 have been primary assists.

Josh Leivo registered the primary assist on Kadri’s second period goal. Leivo has assists (5) in three consecutive games.

Leo Komarov had the secondary assist on Nylander’s third period power play goal. Komarov has assists (3) in three consecutive games.

Frederik Andersen stopped 36 shots in the loss.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs were outshot by the Senators by a 42-37 margin in all situations and by a 32-25 margin at 5-on-5.

Toronto had a 70-65 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 50-48 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly each registered five shots on goal.

Morgan Rielly led the Maple Leafs with eight shot attempts.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The Maple Leafs are 14-10-4 at home this season and 9-3-2 in the first leg of back-to-backs.

Toronto’s all-time record is 50-48-3-11 in 112 games against the Senators and 27-20-2-7 in games played in Toronto.

Toronto is 18-12-5 against the Eastern Conference this season and 12-6-2 against the Atlantic Division.

The Maple Leafs wrap up the back-to-back tomorrow night (Feb. 19) in Carolina.

Tonight’s attendance was 19.527.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

OF NOTE…

The Maple Leafs were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill tonight and 1-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 11-9-6 when scoring one power play goal this season and 6-9-6 when allowing one power play goal.

Toronto is 5-15-6 when their opponent scores first.

The Maple Leafs are now 1-14-3 when trailing after a period and 3-3-3 when tied after two periods this season

Toronto has a 16-9-5 record when outshot by their opponent.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Sunday, Feb. 19 at Carolina Hurricanes, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)

Tuesday, Feb. 21 vs. Winnipeg Jets, 7:30 p.m. (TSN 4, FAN 590)

Thursday, Feb. 23 vs. New York Rangers, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Saturday, Feb. 25 vs. Montreal Canadiens, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)

Tuesday, Feb. 28 at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

You know what, I thought we were okay and then I thought we made some mistakes. I thought we lost that speed and they skated by us a bit in the early going. I thought our penalty kill got us going on the 5-on-3 and I thought we really got playing good after that. We made a big time mistake on their tying goal where we had two guys on the corner, we had no pressure on us so we rimmed it around and gave it away. In saying that thought, we had ample, ample opportunity to win the game down the stretch. We had lots of push at the net and we didn’t score and they did. In the end when you look at the score, 6-3, you don’t think it was a very good hockey game but I think it was a pretty good hockey game. I think we can play way better though. I think we can play better structurally defensively so we have to get better.

On if he’s worried about a missed opportunity to pick up standings points:

I don’t think there’s any sense worrying about squandering anything but the reality is we’re all big boys, we can read the standings. You’ve got to win hockey games. What I just said to our team is we’re going to Carolina on a long weekend. Worry about this game. We haven’t been very good back-to-back, mentally we haven’t dug in. So, we have to win a game. You can feel sorry for yourself if you want. No one else is going to. We need to find a way to compete harder and find a way to win. That’s all there is to it. It’s that simple.

On the Hunwick-Polak tandem killing off a 5-on-3 in the second period:

That’s what they get paid for, they did a good job, so they did their part. You can see lots of things you might not like about them but they can do that and they do it good.

On Nylander playing with Matthews:

I thought Willy played hard. It’s just improving detail in his game at all times, but I thought he played well. He gave us good opportunity to get the chance there at the end so I thought he was solid.

On who will start tomorrow night in goal:

The great thing about that plane ride is it’s two hours long so I should have a good handle on that by the time we get there.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (36 SAVES)

On coming back from 2-0 down heading into the third:

I think we got some good energy in the second on the penalty kill and we started playing well and got into the game. It was pretty emotional. We couldn’t keep it going, we did a good job battling back but it’s a tough one to lose.

On his ability to fight through screens tonight:

The two first goals, they went off some people so it’s tough out there. Other than that I think it was great, I was seeing the puck really well other than those two. I felt pretty good.

NAZEM KADRI (1 GOAL, 64% FACEOFF PERCENTAGE)

On coming back from 2-0 down:

We had a bit of a tough start but we did a good job of battling back and getting ourselves back into the game. We had a few unfortunate breaks in the third period, which led to a couple of goals and we just came up short.

On if he was surprised by his third period penalty:

Yeah, a little bit. I felt like we were kind of battling up and down the ice and I felt like if he wasn’t in my way to get the puck there wouldn’t have been a holding penalty. It’s a tough job for the officials, I’m not mad at anybody, but that was just the way I saw it.

On tonight’s loss:

It’s crucial for sure, they’re a team that have been firing away these past couple of weeks. It’s certainly time to get points. We’re in a bit of a funk here but we’re not too worried about it. We’ve got to go into Carolina tomorrow and be optimistic about that road game and come out with two points.

On playing with Josh Leivo:

I like the way [Leivo] plays. He’s a big body, he’s got skill, he can see the ice, he’s good on the forecheck. I like his game the way it is and all he needed was a bit of confidence for a couple of shots to drop for him or a couple of bounces to go his way. I like where his game is at, he’s really effective, especially down low.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (2 ASSISTS)

On tonight’s game:

I think it’s two really good teams, both teams play a tight structure. They’ve obviously been playing pretty well lately. We knew going into it there wasn’t going to be a lot of space and I think that first period, they kind of got on us and we figured we needed guys in front of the net to score goals against their goalie. In the third period I thought we definitely bounced back.

On the team getting chances but not converting them to goals:

I think that’s how it goes sometimes. You have opportunities, their goalie came up big with some really big saves. We had guys in front, their D were boxing out pretty well, getting sticks onto pucks and forcing us to miss the net on some shots. I think it’s just up to us to compete a little harder, want it a little more and be able to capitalize on those opportunities.

On playing with Nylander:

I think it went well. We’ve seen each other from time to time this year. We play power play together so we have that sense of chemistry, we know where each other is at and he was skating tonight. It’s always a good sign when he’s skating because he’s making plays all over the ice. We were fortunate to have a lucky bounce there and got guys in front for Morgan’s goal and just really were strong on our power play there so I think it went really well tonight, but not the result we wanted.

MORGAN RIELLY (1 GOAL, 8 SHOT ATTEMPTS)

On tonight’s loss:

We’re aware of the standings and the games in hand that we had and there’s some we still have, maybe one. Like we’ve said before, they only matter if you win. If you don’t win them then you never needed them. We know what’s going on, that makes tonight that much tougher. That being said, we’ve got a chance to go into Carolina tomorrow night and get two points and turn the page on tonight and move forward.

On gritty goals being scored tonight:

That’s the way they’re going to go in, they’re not going to be pretty this time of year. We’ve got to go into the dirty areas, make sure we’re doing the things that are going to allow us to be successful.

On the team’s ability to bounce back:

We’ll see tomorrow. I think it’s been good this year. I think we’ve been able to turn the page a little bit. We’ll learn from tonight, take it in stride and maybe use it tomorrow night. It’s a big game tomorrow night.