Senators go for another win over rival Maple Leafs

The Ottawa Senators aim to extend their five-game winning streak and continue their dominance in the Battle of Ontario when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

The Senators, who are 6-0-1 in their past seven games as they make a run for the playoffs, are coming off a 6-3 home victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

In another confidence boost for a team trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017, the Senators have won both games against the provincial rival Maple Leafs this season and four straight in the series.

The Senators defeated the Maple Leafs 3-0 on Nov. 12 in Toronto and 2-1 on Jan. 25 in Ottawa.

The Maple Leafs took a 3-2 home loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday, missing a chance to move into a first-place tie in the Atlantic Division. The Panthers are first, now four points ahead of the Maple Leafs, who have one game in hand.

In improving their hold on a wild-card spot on Thursday, the Senators took a 4-1 lead in the first period vs. Boston.

"We had a great start," Senators coach Travis Green said. "We haven't been in a lot of those situations, but we've been playing a lot of emotional hockey. They had some good pressure, and all of a sudden, it was 5-3 and we got back to our game and defended well."

Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark kept the score at 5-3 with a spectacular save at 18:29 of the second period, diving across the goal to snare a shot by Mason Lohrei.

"I was just laughing," Ullmark said. "Like, sometimes you wonder, ‘How did that happen? Like, what happened in the prior (play), how did I get here?' And sort of just have to smile and laugh about it because you saved it and then let it go and focus on the next one, because you don't want to make a brilliant save like that and end up having a bad goal right after."

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk stayed on the bench for the final six minutes of the game.

"He tweaked his hip a little but I expect he'll be all right," Green said.

The Maple Leafs also struck first in their game Thursday when John Tavares scored at the 2:00 mark of the first period in the opener of a four-game homestand. They fell behind 3-1, however, with two Florida goals coming on the power play.

The game had a playoff feel to it with some chippiness.

"It was a good battle," Toronto coach Craig Berube said. "Five-on-five, I thought it was a pretty even game. I liked our third period a lot. Difference is they scored two power-play goals and we didn't capitalize on our PP."

The Maple Leafs, who were 0-for-3 on the power play, have lost four of five.

"That's as close to a playoff game as you're going to get," said Max Domi, who scored Toronto's second goal and had a first-period fight. "I think, for the most part, we played a real solid game -- that's a hell of a hockey team over there."

"We need to obviously clean up our PK. We need to get those kills," said defenseman Chris Tanev, who returned to the lineup Thursday after missing two weeks with an upper-body injury. "Late in periods especially -- they're huge momentum killers."

--Field Level Media