Brady Tkachuk scored twice and Anton Forsberg made 31 saves as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2 on Friday night.
Claude Giroux, with a goal and an assist, Thomas Chabot, Drake Batherson and Derick Brassard had the other goals for Ottawa (22-23-3). Tim Stutzle added two assists as the Senators picked up their first victory at Scotiabank Arena with fans in attendance since October 2018.
William Nylander and Joey Anderson replied for Toronto (30-12-8), which was minus Auston Matthews because of a knee sprain that will keep the star centre out at least three weeks.
Matt Murray was slated to see his first action in goal for the Leafs since Jan. 17, but appeared to take a shot up high from Nylander in warmup and occupied a seat at the end of the bench instead of Toronto’s crease prior to the opening faceoff.
Matthews, who will miss next week’s NHL all-star game, suffered his injury in Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Rangers. The Leafs dropped to 31-17-2 when the reigning Hart Trophy winner is out of the lineup since picking him first overall at the 2016 draft.
WATCH | Sens claim Battle of Ontario in blowout road win:
A pair of goals by Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk contributed to a 6-2 win over Toronto Friday night.
Toronto captain John Tavares took Matthews’ spot between Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting on the top line to start the game, while Pontus Holmberg centred Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok.
Tied 2-2 in the second period, Ottawa grabbed its third lead of the night on a power play when Brassard’s centring pass went in off Toronto defenceman Timothy Liljegren for his seventh goal of the season.
The Senators then made it 4-2 at 16:37 when Batherson ripped his 15th past Samsonov.
Tkachuk then put things to bed 3:32 into the third when he sniped his 18th upstairs on a shot that clattered the back bar of the Toronto goal.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 1:32 of the first when Chabot fired his eighth — and first in 18 games — with the teams playing 4-on-4.
Toronto tied it at 7:15 when Anderson took a pass from Alexander Kerfoot and fired his second shortside on Forsberg.
The Senators went up 2-1 just 23 seconds into the second when Tkachuk tipped his 18th past Samosonov, who started a fifth straight game, after the Leafs turned the puck over.
But Toronto responded on a power play at 2:44 when Nylander swatted home his 27th from the crease after an initial shot from Tavares in tight leaked through Forsberg.
WATCH | Marner lifts Leafs over Rangers in overtime:
Mitch Marner scored early in overtime giving Toronto a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
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