TORONTO — Justin Holl scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:55 left in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
Holl jammed in a rebound at the top of the crease after Michael Bunting‘s backhand at the side of the net created a rebound in front.
“I kind of saw an opportunity [for] a drop pass, or if not I would just take somebody with me, but as it turns out, two guys went to Mitch [Marner] and I had a little space to get to the net and was able to put it in,” Holl said.
“It’s true [I’m not known for scoring goals] for sure, so it’s always good to pot one and help the team win.”
Video: OTT@TOR: Holl pokes home a rebound in front
David Kampf and William Nylander scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (2-1-0), who have won two in a row.
“[Samsonov] looked really calm and settled in the net,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “You could tell he grew from one start to the next. That’s what you are looking for is a guy to get comfortable with. Not expecting to start, but it changes your day, your plans, and all those kind of things, but it didn’t look like he missed a beat, so that was good to see.”
Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux scored, and Anton Forsberg made 29 saves for the Senators (0-2-0).
“We defended really well and then we let them get to the net with two minutes to go,” Ottawa coach DJ Smith said. “It’s really disappointing, but if we play like that we’re going to win lots of games.
“We’ve got to be a little more desperate [on the winning goal]. We’ve got to knock people down and we were fishing for the puck.”
Samsonov said he found out at the morning skate that he would be starting after Matt Murray sustained an adductor muscle injury during the session.
“This is hockey, sometimes you have a bad situation with the team, but I’m ready all the time,” Samsonov said. “I got some hard practice the other day, and it doesn’t matter what’s going on, just get ready.”
Nylander gave Toronto a 2-1 lead when he took a cross-slot pass Austin Matthews and shot over Forsberg’s glove from the right hash marks on the power play at 13:24 of the third period.
Video: OTT@TOR: Giroux ties game for 1st with Senators
Giroux tied it 2-2 when he jammed in a loose puck in the goal crease at 14:49 for his first goal for the Senators after signing a three-year contract on July 13.
“We liked the way we played,” Giroux said. “Obviously we need to clean up a few things, but overall we played a way better game than that [the 4-1 loss Thursday to the] Buffalo [Sabres] and I feel like we took a little step. It’s early in the season. Obviously you want to have a good start to the season, but at this point 0-2, now we are going home and just have to feel comfortable with our game knowing what we have to do and follow the game plan. If we do that for 60 minutes, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win more often.”
The Senators took a 1-0 lead at 9:09 of the first period when Pinto one-timed a pass from Giroux at the right hash marks on the power play.
Kampf tied it 1-1 at 19:43 of the second period when he deflected a shot from Jake Muzzin in the slot.
“He seems to have a knack,” Keefe said. “I don’t know if he’s scored an unimportant goal for us ever in his time here. He just finds ways to score big goals at key times. That’s a nice characteristic to have.”
Video: OTT@TOR: Kampf deflects shot in with 17 seconds left
Bunting said he was pleased how the Maple Leafs found a way to win against an improved Senators team.
“It was a competitive game,” Bunting said. “They made changes and added some elite players. You can’t give them much because their skill will show. I thought we did a really good job with that. We didn’t let them have a lot of odd-man rushes and not a lot of chances. I thought we possessed it really well in their offensive zone. It was a really tight game, came down to one goal with two minutes to go. I thought we played pretty well.”
NOTES: The Maple Leafs placed Murray on long-term injured reserve prior to the game. He will miss a minimum of four weeks. … Matthews led all players with seven shots. … Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson had the secondary assist on Pinto’s goal for his first NHL point. … Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk had five hits to increase his NHL career total to 1,002. … Maple Leafs forward John Tavares had an assist, his 899th NHL point.
.