The Ottawa Senators turned the Battle of Ontario into little more than a squabble on Tuesday night.
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The Maple Leafs didn’t have much fight, or anything else for that matter, as the Sens easily won 3-0 at Scotiabank Arena.
After beating Atlantic Division rivals Montreal, Detroit and Boston in their past three games with sound hockey, the Leafs couldn’t get out of their own way and were beaten by the Sens at every turn.
The Leafs’ five-game home winning streak ended with a crash. Ottawa’s 40 shots on goal were the most Toronto has given up in a game in 2024-25.
Goaltender Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for his first shutout with the Senators.
The Leafs, who heard some boos at game’s end, failed to score on four power plays after going 8-for-15 in their previous four games. And they have just one goal at five-on-five in their past five games.
Ottawa scored two goals in a span of 43 seconds early in the second period, putting to bed any faint idea that the Leafs had a chance of rallying.
At 3:12, Tim Stutzle beat Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz with a low shot after Morgan Rielly failed to clear the zone. Ex-Leaf Michael Amadio then kept the puck on a 2-on-1, firing a shot past Stolarz at 3:55.
The Sens’ first goal, on their first shot on goal at 41 seconds of the first period, was an omen of what was to come on the part of the Leafs for the rest of the game.
William Nylander, Bobby McMann and Rielly made a mess of what should have been a straightforward zone entry, and the Sens went the other way on an odd-man rush.
Josh Norris finished it when he snapped the puck over the catching glove of Stolarz.
Max Domi had a great chance to score his first goal of the season with a minute to play in the second period after Nylander created a turnover behind the Ottawa net. Domi was stopped on the doorstep by Ullmark, and the pointless drought for the Leafs forward wound up reaching 11 games.