Domi scores in OT, Maple Leafs top
Senators 3-2 to grab 2-0 lead in Battle of Ontario
[April 23, 2025]
TORONTO (AP) — Max Domi scored at 3:09 of overtime as the
Toronto Maple Leafs survived a blown 2-0 lead to defeat the Ottawa
Senators 3-2 and go up 2-0 in their first-round playoff series
Tuesday night.
The winger moved into the offensive zone in the extra period and
ripped his first of the post-season upstairs past Linus Ullmark.
“Unreal,” Leafs centre John Tavares said. “Great for him, great for
our team.”
Tavares, with a goal and an assist, and Morgan Rielly provided the
rest of the offense for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.
“Just pure jubilation,” Stolarz said of Domi’s winner that set off
wild celebrations inside and outside Scotiabank Arena. “He’s a hell
of a teammate in the room, and to see someone like that get
rewarded, hopefully it’s the start of something big.”
Brady Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette scored for Ottawa. Ullmark stopped
18 shots.
The best-of-seven Battle of Ontario now shifts to the nation’s
capital for Games 3 and 4 beginning Thursday at the Canadian Tire
Centre.
The Leafs, who took Sunday’s opener 6-2, lead a post-season series
2-0 for the first time since 2002.
In the playoffs for the first time in eight years following a long
rebuild, the Senators limp home looking for answers.
“We’re looking forward to getting home,” Tkachuk said. “And
honestly, there’s not one ounce of panic.”
Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five postseason matchups in
the early 2000s, is 10-0 all-time in series where the club wins the
first two games at home, and has a two-game playoff edge for just
the second time in 10 tries across the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
era.
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Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) tries to make a shot on
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) with pressure from
Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot (72) during third period NHL playoff
action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The
Canadian Press via AP)
After scoring three quick-strike goals on the man
advantage in Game 1 against an inexperienced and undisciplined
opponent, Toronto capitalized 18 seconds into its first opportunity
when Tavares sent a puck into the crease that deflected in off
Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen on the home side’s fourth shot at
8:20.
Stolarz decked Senators forward Ridly Greig, who slid into the
netminder late in Game 1, at the end of an Ottawa power play in the
second on a sequence that resulted in coincidental minor penalties.
Captains America
The series marks the first time in NHL history two Canadian teams
with U.S.-born captains — Ottawa’s Tkachuk and Toronto’s Matthews —
have met in the playoffs.
First taste
Leafs head coach Craig Berube, who won the Stanley Cup with the St.
Louis Blues in 2019 and has been handed the reins of an organization
looking to end decades of playoff misery, was asked pregame about
his initial thoughts on the Battle of Ontario.
“There’s some hatred there, for sure,” the former NHL tough guy from
Alberta said with a grin. “It’s pretty good. I enjoy it.”
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