Sens beat Leafs in OT to cut series deficit to 3-1

OTTAWA – The Senators have a pulse in the Battle of Ontario.

Jake Sanderson scored at 17:32 of overtime as Ottawa survived a blown 2-0 lead to top Toronto 4-3 and stay alive in the teams’ first-round playoff series Saturday.

The defenceman fired a shot through a screen that kept his team alive — and gave the organization its first post-season victory since the 2017 Eastern Conference final.

The Maple Leafs still hold a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven matchup. Game 5 goes Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Tim Stutzle, Shane Pinto and David Perron had the other goals for the Senators, who are in the post-season for the first time in eight years. Linus Ullmark made 32 saves. Sanderson added an assist for a two-point night.

John Tavares, Matthew Knies and Oliver Ekman-Larsson replied for the Leafs. Anthony Stolarz stopped 18 shots. William Nylander added two assists.

Only four NHL teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series — the 1942 Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings.

Toronto, which entered on an eight-game winning streak dating back to the regular season, beat Ottawa four times in five playoffs in the early 2000s, including an opening-round sweep in 2001.

Ottawa survived a four-minute Toronto power play earlier in the extra period — Leafs captain Auston Matthews hit the post on a scramble — after Senators forward Drake Batherson was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking.

Perron broke a 2-2 tie at 7:32 of the third on a terrific feed from defenceman Artem Zub after some sustained pressure in the offensive zone to send the towel-waving Canadian Centre Tire crowd into a frenzy

The Leafs pushed as the clock ticked down, and Ekman-Larsson buried his second with 5:29 left in regulation off a cross-ice Nylander pass.

Back in the playoffs following a long rebuild, the Senators opened the scoring on a power play at 9:03 of the first after Leafs winger Max Domi took an undisciplined roughing penalty on a faceoff where he punched Pinto before the puck was dropped.

Stutzle took advantage by blasting a one-timer past Stolarz’s glove at the near post for the Senators, who fell 6-2 in the opener before suffering back-to-back 3-2 overtime losses.

The Leafs goaltender and defenceman Jake McCabe then scrambled to clear a loose put out of the crease on a chaotic sequence.

Toronto went to the man advantage later in the period, but Ottawa pushed ahead 2-0 with a short-handed goal when Pinto chipped the puck past Mitch Marner and fired a shot that rattled around Stolarz’ five-hole and trickled over the goal line at 14:11.

The Leafs got on the board with 54.4 seconds left in the first when Tavares, who took an elbow from Zub in OT and briefly left for the locker room, redirected his third of the series past Ullmark off a slick setup from Nylander.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk hit the post on Stolarz early in the second before the visitors got even.

Knies beat Zub to a loose puck and then fought off the blueliner before moving in alone on Ullmark firing his third upstairs at 10:12 in a low-event period that saw the home side register a single shot on target.

STAYING QUIET

The NHL fined Senators forward Nick Cousins just over US$2,000 on Friday — and the team $25,000 — for firing a couple of pucks toward Stolarz in warm-ups ahead of Game 3. Ottawa did not make the 31-year-old available to reporters following Saturday’s optional morning skate.

MOPPING UP

The Leafs were eager to get on the ice for their morning skate, so much so that Stolarz used a towel to mop up the water in his crease before Toronto went through its paces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2025.

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