John Tavares had a goal and an assist, Morgan Rielly also scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are the top seed from the Atlantic Division.
“The first period was really good, I liked our start a lot,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “We came out playing on our toes, got to our forecheck. We were aggressive, we got out to a good lead and the power play came through again. Second period, I thought they were the better team. We didn’t make plays. We looked like we were protecting the lead a little bit, didn’t make enough plays, didn’t advance it and get to the offensive zone enough. … The third period was fine, we were in good shape. The goal was the first shot we gave up in the third period.”
Brady Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette scored, and Ullmark made 18 saves for the Senators, who are the first wild card from the East.
“There’s not one ounce of panic, doubt in this locker room,” Tkachuk said. “This just shows how much we’re going to need this city, how much we’re going to need the [Canadian Tire Centre] to be buzzing. Yeah, we’re looking forward to getting home. Honestly, there’s not one ounce of panic.”
Rielly put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 3:43 of the first period when he redirected a centering pass from William Nylander at the top of the goal crease after getting inside positioning on Drake Batherson.
“I think the expectation is we are all going to up our level across the board,” said Rielly, who also scored in a 6-2 win in Game 1. “I don’t think anyone is trying to reinvent the wheel, I think we are all out there just competing our hardest, trying to play a team game and get to our game as quick as we can.”
Stolarz kept it 1-0 at 4:58, lunging forward to stop Tim Stutzle alone in front of the net on the power play.
Tavares then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 8:20. His shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle went in off Senators defenseman Nick Jensen’s skate at the top of the crease.
Tkachuk cut it to 2-1 at 15:41 of the second period on the power play. His attempted between-the-legs pass across the goal crease deflected in off Maple Leafs defenseman Brandon Carlo’s skate.
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