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Giveaways plague Leafs in first road loss

October 21, 2017, 10:34 PM ET [133 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Ottawa Senators took advantage of the sloppy defensive play and giveaways in the first skirmish of the Battle of Ontario, as Derick Brassard and Mark Stone each scored a pair of goals in a 6-3 Sens win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and William Nylander scored and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves for Toronto, who took their first road loss of the season after wins in Winnipeg, Washington and Montreal.



The Maple Leafs were frustrated and outworked by Ottawa in the first. Andersen was sharp early on and kept the game close, as Toronto was outshot 13-8 and surrendered the opening goal as Nate Thompson scored his first goal of the season on a mad scramble.

"We just weren't competitive enough. The bottom line is the game could have turned in our favor in the third period. We got our competitive level up, but they were better than us (and) they deserved to win." Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. "We turned the puck over, over and over again. They did a good job making that happen, but we didn't execute in our own zone."

The Sens extended their lead in the second, as Ryan Dzingel tipped a Erik Karlsson shot past Andersen and Brassard scored his first of the night with 12 seconds left in the middle frame.



Toronto attempted to comeback in the third, as van Riemsdyk’s tip of Ron Hainsey’s shot got past Craig Anderson and Matthews beat the Sens goalie between the legs within a span of 2:34.

Ottawa coach Guy Boucher took a timeout to calm his troops and the respite paid off, as Stone intercepted Nikita Zaitsev’s pass off the face-off and scored past Andersen on the rebound.

Nylander narrowed the lead to 4-3 on the Leafs first power play of the game and Mitch Marner nearly tied the game on Johnny Oduya's giveaway, but Brassard scored on the counterattack to ice the game away for the Sens, who notched their first home win of the season.

The victory was costly for Ottawa, as Boucher indicated after the game that winger Bobby Ryan suffered a fractured right index finger and will be out for about a month.

The Leafs next game is Monday, as they play the first of three staright at home against Western Conference leading Los Angeles Kings.

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