Sens rally from 4 down to win for 1st time, beat Leafs in OT

Feb 16, 2021, 05:30 am

TORONTO -- — Evgenii Dadonov scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Ottawa Senators overcame a four-goal deficit to win for the first time in franchise history, stunning the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on Monday night.

Ottawa trailed 5-1 late in the second period before charging back, improving to 1-237-3 when trailing by at least four goals.

“It’s hockey ... anything can happen,” Dadonov said. “We didn’t stop playing.”

Conor Brown and Nick Paul each had a goal and an assist for the Senators. Drake Batherson and Artem Zub also scored, and Marcus Hogberg stopped 33 shots.

“Give the guys credit for staying in the fight,” coach D.J. Smith said. ”(Hogberg) gave us every chance. I thought we hung him out for a couple periods. We just didn’t have our legs.

“We were flat, we didn’t make many plays, but we found a way.”

Auston Matthews had two goals — giving him an NHL-leading 12 — and an assist for Toronto, and Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist in his return from injury. Travis Boyd and Pierre Engvall provided the rest of the offense for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.

“Sloppiness is creeping into our game,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It wasn’t everybody, but enough guys gave the game to them.

“What we had against us is sloppy play ... that led to us playing more in our end than we had to.”

Dadanov batted a puck out of mid-air for his fifth goal with 2:01 left and Hogbeg on the bench for an extra attacker. He then buried his second on a breakaway in the extra period after blocking Morgan Rielly's shot in the crease with Hogberg completely out of position.

Thornton was back on Toronto’s top line with Matthews and Mitch Marner after the 41-year-old missed 10 games with a fractured rib suffered Jan. 20.

“A couple of careless plays,” Matthews said. “They challenged us and we didn’t really respond. We definitely blew this one.”

MAKING MOVES

The Leafs announced before the game they had acquired forward Alex Galchenyuk from the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Egor Korshkov and defenseman David Warsofsky.

UP NEXT

The teams play against Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa.

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