OTTAWA – Joseph Woll made 29 saves before exiting midway through the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 Thursday night.
Woll had been stellar, but was visibly hurt after saving a shot from Drake Batherson.
Toronto led 3-2 at the time, but a William Nylander goal with 6:57 remaining provided enough support for Toronto (13-6-4) to earn the victory.
Mitch Marner, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Leafs, while Martin Jones stopped 9-of-10 shots in relief.
Josh Norris, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Claude Giroux scored for Ottawa (10-11-0).
Anton Forsberg stopped 18 shots.
Jarnkrok gave Toronto a 3-1 edge 3:35 into the third period with a wrist shot. It was his sixth of the season and capped a run of three unanswered goals by the Leafs.
But under two minutes later, Bernard-Docker made it a one-score game with his first career NHL goal on a point shot.
Nylander then put the Leafs ahead 4-2 with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle.
Once again, though, the Senators made it a one-goal game with Giroux scoring on a one-timer with 1:53 remaining.
However, Ottawa was unable to complete the comeback despite pulling Forsberg and having a power play for the final 50.3 seconds.
Trailing 1-0, Marner tied the game 1:42 into the second period on a near-identical play to the Senators’ opening goal.
Morgan Rielly sprung Marner open with a long pass and Marner wristed a shot past Forsberg stick side.
Kampf, with his first goal since Nov. 11th, put the Leafs ahead after poking it past Forsberg from in close with 2:20 left in the middle frame.
Norris opened the scoring with 26 seconds left in the opening period. Jakob Chychrun fed Norris a perfect stretch pass to break in alone and beat Woll.
INTERESTING STAT
Toronto entered Thursday’s game having picked up points in all but one game since its last meeting against Ottawa on Nov. 8.
NOTES
Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. The team has said it’s waiting for results from an MRI. … Mark Kastelic practised for the first time since his injury Dec. 2. … Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov did not dress for the game while he deals with an illness.
UP NEXT
Ottawa: Takes on the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night.
Toronto: Hosts the Nashville Predators Saturday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2023.
