The power play taketh away, and the power play giveth.

When it looked like the turning point in the Toronto Maple Leafs favor came after Ottawa failed on a lengthy 5-on-3 and a chance to make it a 3-0 game, Toronto stormed back and counted twice before the third period was out, and took the lead with a power play goal of their own early in the third.

Ottawa ended up scoring the eventual winner on a power play of their own, as 54 seconds after Mike Hoffman had tied it up, Derick Brassard poked home a loose puck to allow Ottawa to retake a lead that this time they would not relinquish. A couple of empty netters made the 6-3 final look a little more lopsided than it was, as this one was in doubt until Mark Stone fired it the length of the ice for the first ENG.

It was Stone's team leading 21st goal of the season, and it went along with four assists for a career high five point night. Stone was in on the quick strikes in the first period that saw Chris Wideman and Ryan Dzingel score 20 seconds apart to give them a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri tallied late in the second period and then early in the third William Nylander beat Craig Anderson on the man advantage to give the Leafs three unanswered goals and their first lead of the game. It was a short-lived lead though, as Hoffman rang one off the post and in with a perfectly placed shot just over three minutes later, and then Brassard with the man advantage, Stone and then Brassard again made it four unanswered of their own.

Erik Karlsson had a pair of assists to reach the 40 mark, and Kyle Turris had three helpers as the game was night and day in terms of action from the Senators' shutout win in New Jersey a couple of days earlier.

Both Craig Anderson and Frederik Andersen made key saves to keep their teams in it as they combined for almost 80 total shots (41 for Ottawa, 37 for Toronto)

Auston Matthews had a pair of assists for the Leafs, and with the Senators returning home from a perfect two game road trip to face the other super-rookie in Patrick Laine and the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets were also winners on Hockey Day in Canada, spoiling Claude Julien's Habs debut by beating Montreal 3-1. Ottawa's win combined with Montreal's loss moved the Senators within 2 points of les Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic Division with three games in hand.

Although the second slot might mean a more preferential first round matchup, the Senators can't let off the gas and avoid overtaking Montreal or they might get caught from behind.

I would anticipate Mike Condon being in the net for the Senators, with a quick turnaround to a 5:00 start and the busy night for Anderson in Toronto. Of course, I have thought that before and been wrong, but last time it was with Chris Driedger as the backup, not Condon who is coming off a shutout in New Jersey. The last time they followed up a win on Saturday night followed by a 5pm start on Sunday with travel was the 7-6 game against Columbus. Ottawa will hope to avoid a similar letdown, and the Jets have a bit of an edge in the fact that they played a 1:00 game on Saturday and were likely in Ottawa (or close to it) before the Senators even dropped the puck for their game in Toronto.

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