Ottawa Senators fall to Maple Leafs in nail-biter

TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 1: Connor Brown #28 of the Ottawa Senators battles for the puck against Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 1: Connor Brown #28 of the Ottawa Senators battles for the puck against Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 1: Connor Brown #28 of the Ottawa Senators battles for the puck against Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 1: Connor Brown #28 of the Ottawa Senators battles for the puck against Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ottawa Senators fall to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday Night Hockey, by a score of 2-1.

This was only the second meeting of the season between the two Ontario based teams. The last time they met was actually the season opener back on October 2nd.

The Leafs were victorious that night by a 5-3 decision.

Ottawa’s cross province rivals once again defeated the Senators, this time needing overtime though.

The Ottawa Senators lone goal scorer was non other than, Mark Borowiecki, who is fast becoming an Senators legend. He now has a career high seven goals on the year.

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The Leafs first goal scorer, former Ottawa Senator, Jason Spezza wired one past Anderson for his first

goal versus his former team, as a member of the Leafs. This was his eighth tally of the season, matching his previous totals from the last two campaigns.

Mitch Marner ended it on a power play 3:54 into the overtime sequence. It was his 14th goal of the season.

When the starting goalies were announced today, it was generally assumed this would be a particularly high scoring affair. Michael Hutchinson has heavily struggled this year, and Craig Anderson hasn’t been stellar at all.

But lo and behold both goalies proved critics wrong in what turned out to be a great goalie duel. Hutchinson let in a single goal on 25 Ottawa attempts, while at the other end Anderson let up two on 36 Toronto shots.

There is a recurring theme at Senators games these days, its that they keep playing well through 60 minutes, then promptly lose in extra time.

This is the tenth time this year the Senators have lost in overtime, its starting to be a worrisome pattern, because as a rebuilding team, we don’t need the extra “loser points”.

But there is still much to be optimistic about if you’re a Sens fan, top prospect Drake Batherson is becoming more and more comfortable at the NHL level, he had an assist to show for it tonight.

The rebuild is humming along nicely and there are definitely much brighter days just around the corner.