Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-2 win against the visiting Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday.
John Tavares and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist, Auston Matthews had two assists and Anthony Stolarz made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs, the No. 2 seed from the Eastern Conference.
“You knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Marner said. “They’ve got a lot of skill. They got special teams over there. If you give them a lot of opportunities and looks, they can really score, so it wasn’t an easy game. We just stuck to our game plan and it worked out.”
Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig scored and Linus Ullmark made 18 saves for the Senators, the first wild-card team from the East.
“There is nothing we can do about it right now,” Ullmark said. “We have to focus on the next one.”
Toronto scored on its second shot on goal when Scott Laughton passed to Oliver Ekman-Larsson trailing on the rush and he sent a wrist shot from between the hash marks for a 1-0 lead at 7:09 of the first period.
After the Maple Leafs made it 2-0 at 12:18 on a breakaway by Marner, the Senators cut it to 2-1 at 16:18 of the first.
Stolarz made a save on a wrist shot by Dylan Cozens, but Batherson chipped the puck into the net before Stolarz could cover the rebound.
Toronto went on the game’s first power play when Tim Stutzle was whistled for boarding Chris Tanev, and Tavares scored with the man advantage to stretch the lead to 3-1 at 4:07 of the second.
Nylander took a shot from above the left circle that Tavares tipped on the way to the net. Ullmark made the save, but the rebound came out to the slot and Tavares shot the puck into the net.
The Maple Leafs scored three seconds into a 5-on-3 power play. Tavares won the faceoff and Nylander took possession of the puck in the left circle before skating into the high slot and scoring with a wrist shot for a 4-1 lead at 7:19.
Greig got to a loose puck in front of the crease and snapped it into the net to cut it to 4-2 at 4:00 of the third period.
Morgan Rielly re-established a three-goal lead 45 seconds later, and Matthew Knies scored the third power-play goal of the game for Toronto to extend the lead to 6-2 at 13:13.
“The issue is as clear as day,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “We took too many penalties and they scored on them.”
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday in Toronto.
“Playoffs in here are always a lot of fun, and you can feel the energy,” Marner said. “You can feel the energy when you’re driving into the city.”
–Field Level Media
