Sens score five to sweep Maple Leafs in preseason back-to-back

11 total goals over 2 games for Ottawa

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators kick off preseason action at the Air Canada Centre.  Austin Owens / Toronto Observer

Erik Burgdoerfer had a rare breakaway goal by a defenceman to help the Ottawa Senators complete the back-to-back sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 5-2 score on Tuesday night in preseason action.

Logan Brown, Frederik Claesson, Filip Chlapik, and Patrick Sieloff also scored for the Senators.

Patrick Marleau and James van Riemsdyk responded for the Maple Leafs.

“I thought our team was good in the first,” said Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock, afterwards. “Their goaltending was very good tonight

“To me they worked harder than us over the last two games and they won two games, you’ve got to give them credit.”

Leafs took control of the game early on, firing eight shots on Mike Condon in the first five minutes of the game. The goaltender was equal to the task, however, making several key saves from point blank.

Senators opened the scoring just 4:27 into the opening frame. Martin Marincin failed to clear the puck on the penalty kill, leading to Brown beating Frederik Andersen to put the visitors ahead.

Marleau answered for the Buds seven minutes later. He got in behind the Senators defence aand fired a laser that beat Condon high on the glove side.

Ottawa found themselves in penalty trouble near the end of the first. Burgdoerfer took a holding penalty, which was followed by a Sieloff minor.

The Leafs took advantage of the five-on-three, with James van Riemsdyk finishing off a Mitch Marner cross-crease feed to give Toronto the lead.

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Leafs outshot the Senators 17-9 in the first frame.

The second period started off with the same excitement as the first, but it did bring more rough play, and the first fight of the night. Senators forward Mike Blunden took exception to a hit by Andreas Borgman and dropped the mitts with the 21-year-old Swede.

Marcus Hogberg replaced Condon — who finished with 22 saves in 30:18 of work — halfway through the second period. He only faced one shot in the frame.

Ottawa drew even with 4:08 to go in the second when Claesson got the puck at the blueline and wired a shot past Andersen.

Kasimir Kaskisuo replaced Andersen in the Leafs net to start the third. The Buds number one goaltender finished the game with 18 saves on 20 shots during his two periods of work.

“The plan was to play the two periods,” Anderson said, post game. “I was happy I got those two periods in. I felt good and to get that game action in during the preseason was fun.”

At the tail end of the Leafs eighth power-play of the night, Burgdoerfer got a breakaway out of the penalty box. He was stopped by Kaskisuo on the first shot, but slotted home the rebound to put the Senators ahead 3-2.

Chlapik and Sieloff sealed the game with two empty netters, pushing the lead to three.

The shots in the game were 40-27 in favour of the Leafs, but Ottawa came out on top.

“There was a lot of rust. But that’s what the preseason is for, shaking off the rust and learning the new rules so it was fun to be back out there,” centre Tyler Bozak said.

Leafs were outscored 11-4 over the two game stretch against the Senators.

Leafs continue their preseason slate on Friday at home against the Buffalo Sabres, a game that will be played at the Ricoh Coliseum because the Air Canada Centre is being used for the Invictus Games, while Ottawa return home to face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

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Posted: Sep 20 2017 8:36 am
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