Senators Unbeaten Against Leafs After 3-2 Win

The Toronto Maple Leafs slipped into a tie with last place Carolina following a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The woeful Leafs limped out of Ottawa sporting a 2-4-4 record in their last 10 games, but as usual, they were in the game but not on the right side of the score sheet. Sens goalie Pascal Leclaire made some brilliant saves to preserve his spotty won/loss record at 7 wins, 5 losses. Leclaire was named the games' first star.

Mike Fisher opened the scoring with his first of 2 goals on the night at 8:08 picking up a rebound in the slot with a shot over Leaf netminder Vesa Toskala. A little over a minute later Phil Kessel scored his 5th goal in a Leafs uniform to tie it all up on a signature Kessel play, scoring after crossing the blue line with a rocket shot that eluded Leclaire. Colton Orr and Mark Carkner tussled at the 10 minute mark of the 1st period with Orr laying out Carkner. There were 4 different fights in the first 2 periods.

4:49 into the 2nd, Niklas Hagman put the Leafs in the lead with his 7th of the season, tieing him with Alexei Ponikarovsky for the goal scoring lead, but Kessel is coming up fast in that department. The Leafs' lead was shortlived as Milan Michalek tipped in Alexandre Picard's shot to tie it with the only power play goal of the game. Mike Fisher scored his 9th with about 5 minutes left in the 2nd period.

The Leafs pressed for the tieing goal in the 3rd peppering Leclaire with 15 of their 30 shots on the night, but Leclaire faced them down.

The Leafs now have lost their last 4 straight games and have a terrible 3-11-5 record for last place in the Northeast Division, 9 points behind the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins who both have 20 points on the season. Ottawa have 21, four back of division leading Buffalo.

The Leafs next face the Carolina Hurricanes for a cellar-dweller battle for last place in the NHL. Ottawa hosts Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 17th.