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Twenty-one seconds after Foegele gave the Senators a 3-0 lead, Leafs captain John Tavares got his club on the board. He was alone and beat Linus Ullmark with a low shot with 1:36 left on the clock.
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Foegele scored his fourth goal in eight games with the Senators since being acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings.
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Giroux, who left the game briefly in the first period after getting hit into the boards, gave his club a 2-0 lead with No. 12 of the season at 9:09 of the second period, backhanding a rebound past Woll.
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“In the first period, they didn’t give us much,” said Giroux. “We just stuck with our game plan, kept our composure, and when we had chances, we were able to put it in.”
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Twice the Senators thought they’d already pulled ahead 2-0 in the second period, only to have both called back.
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Greig had one taken back because he contacted the puck with a high stick. It was called off immediately.
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“Greig’s stick was above the height of the crossbar when he directed the puck into the net,” the league said in its decision.
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With 13:53 left in the second, Stutzle also thought he’d scored, but instead he was sent to the penalty box for goalie interference. He had crashed into Woll, and it was the right call. There was no argument on that one.
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An underwhelming start
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The Leafs are undermanned and going nowhere. Not only were they without captain Auston Matthews, but defenceman Morgan Rielly was also a late scratch with an unspecified ailment.
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This was the first time the Senators and Leafs had met in Ottawa since Toronto eliminated Ottawa in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs last spring. Naturally, this one meant a lot more to the Senators.
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If anybody was naive enough to think that the Senators would skate circles around the Leafs in the first, that wasn’t the case. Until the Senators took the lead 1-0, they weren’t exactly pushing the pace.
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Stutzle opened the scoring with No. 32 of the season on a powerplay, beating Woll with a shot on the glove side with 5:02 left in the first period.
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“We didn’t give them much the whole game,” said defenceman Tyler Kleven, who had two assists. “We were just playing physical and fast, our style, and we wore them down. It was a good win.
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“We have to go out there and execute. Tonight, we did a good job.”
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Back to Ullmark
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With Ottawa coming off a victory over the New York Islanders with backup James Reimer in net, Linus Ullmark made his 10th start in 12 games. He came into this night with a 5-2-2 record in his the previous nine starts.
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Ullmark, who was pulled after giving up four goals on 14 shots versus the Leafs on Dec. 27, came into this one with a 7-5-1 career record versus Toronto along with a 2.99 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage.
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The shots were 27-11 for Ottawa after 40 minutes, but the goals by Tavares and Cowan weren’t great.
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bgarrioch@postmedia.com
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