The Ottawa Senators’ 7–5 loss in Toronto on Saturday night won’t go down as the greatest game ever played in the Battle of Ontario, but it was certainly entertaining. Matthew Knies had two goals and an assist for Toronto, which snapped a five-game losing slide against the Sens.
Neither team seemed to be at their best, which isn’t uncommon following a three-day holiday break when players are completely off skates and – how shall I put this? – their standard nutritional intake is ignored.
In a lot of ways, the game resembled a holiday skate on the ODR, with loads of goal scoring and only a passing interest in defence.
The Senators’ penalty kill proved to be the perfect tonic for Toronto’s 32nd-ranked power play, which went to work early to give the Leafs a 2–0 lead by way of William Nylander, who would later leave the game with a lower-body injury and did not return. Knies got into the act with a snapshot from the bumper position on a nice pass by Max Domi, who finished the night with three assists.
But the Senators fought back to tie the game.
Nick Cousins tucked home his sixth of the year with under three minutes left in the period to make it 2–1. Then, 18 seconds into the middle frame, Ridly Greig charged to the net with the puck with Leafs defenceman Philippe Myers all over him. Greig managed to get the puck to the net, but Myers ended up plowing Greig, the puck, and Leafs goalie Joseph Woll into the Toronto net.
After review, it was determined that Myers was the one responsible for putting the puck into the Leafs’ net, and the goal stood.
With the score now tied and the ship apparently righted, the Sens began taking on water again after Linus Ullmark let in a pair of goals that head coach Travis Green admitted after the game he didn't like.
The first restored Toronto's lead when a slow-moving puck trickled through Ullmark's legs and sat exposed near the goal line. Bobby McMann whacked it into the vacant net. On the next one, Ullmark gave up a big rebound, which fell right to Auston Matthews, who was standing near the crease right beside Thomas Chabot. Let completely untouched, Matthews crammed in the rebound for one of the easiest goals of his career, which would be the end of Ullmark’s night.
He certainly wasn’t good on Saturday, allowing four goals on 14 shots, but he didn’t get much help either. Backup Leevi Merilainen was scored on with the first shot he faced from Nicholas Robertson.
Down 5-2, the Senators came out and made a game of it in the third.
Drake Batherson scored 14 seconds in, taking a pass from Dylan Cozens in the slot and roofing a beauty over the top of Woll. Tim Stützle then made it 5–4 just over five minutes into the third, cutting into the slot and ripping a wrist shot that Woll got a big piece of, but not enough to stop it from going in.
That momentum didn’t last even a minute, as Knies scored his second of the game to put Toronto back up 6–4.
Jordan Spence made it 6–5 when his wrist shot hit Claude Giroux on the skate, which stung the veteran, but the puck bounced right back to Spence, who had all kinds of room to reload and shoot to make it 6–5.
Giroux, despite the bruise, ended up with two assists in his 1,300th NHL game.
Ottawa continued to push in the late going, but John Tavares put it away with an empty-net goal with 1:16 to play.
Now that the Sens have shaken off the eggnog, they’ll be back home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night to kick off a four-game homestand that take them into 2026 and finish off the first half of their regular season.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
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Steve Warne is the Ottawa Senators site editor at The Hockey News. Steve has covered the Senators since day one, first as Sports Director for Rogers Radio in Ottawa on AM 1310 and FM 105, then as the long-time host of the morning show at TSN 1200 radio, the Sens' flagship station. Steve is also the owner and host of The Sens Nation Podcast.