OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators were in hostile territory on Saturday night despite playing in their home rink.
The Senators are no strangers to seeing a sea of blue and white in the stands when hosting the Maple Leafs in Ottawa, making it all the more satisfying to send those fans home disappointed.
Shane Pinto scored the game winner midway through the third and held off the Leafs' (30-18-2) offence to record a 2-1 win.
“Obviously I don't want to chirp them, but to send the Leafs home upset is nice,” said Pinto. ”But it's just one game so it doesn't really matter.”
But with an incredibly tight race in the NHL's Eastern Conference standings every point counts.
The Senators (25-20-4) are constantly jockeying with a handful of teams for the final two wild-card spots and these two points could prove to be crucial down the stretch.
Pinto’s goal could definitely be considered lucky after Matthew Highmore’s pass deflected off Pinto’s knee to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead with 9:13 remaining in regulation.
“Yeah, I really don't know what happened honestly,” Pinto said. “Just went to the net, Highsey found a way to hit me and just hit off my knee, and it's nice to get one of those.”
It was a tough play for Leafs' netminder Joseph Woll, who otherwise had an impressive night making 21 saves.
“It’s a tight game,” said Woll, “I think both teams were playing strong defensively and keeping it close. At the end of the day, it’s an unlucky bounce and that’s the difference.”
Just as impressive was Pinto’s defensive game. The 24-year-old had the unenviable task of shutting Auston Matthews down and he rose to the challenge holding him to just one shot on the night.
“We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t put in the net — that’s the difference,” said Toronto coach Craig Berube. “I thought our team played hard, we were ready to go. I thought we did a lot of good things except score. We got better as the game went along.”
The Leafs pushed hard for the equalizer in the final minutes of play, but were unable to beat Anton Forsberg, who made 28 saves.
“We played a team game,” said Forsberg. “Stuck with it. We get a bounce there at the end but good teams get bounces. We stuck with it the whole way. We didn't cheat the game, and we came out with a win.”
Toronto had a great start with Bobby McMann giving the Leafs a 1-0 lead early in the first, which helped get the crowd into the game.
Chants of “Go Leafs Go” would often drown out any cheers from the home side.
Tim Stutzle gave Senators fans something to cheer about when he tied the game midway through the first to end Ottawa’s scoring drought of 147:53.
It might just be coincidental but Stutzle was showing off a new look with a fresh buzz cut.
“I asked my barber if he thinks I can pull it off, and he said no,” said Stutzle with a laugh.
“So I was all right, let's go for it. Yeah, got a couple laughs from the boys. That's exactly what I wanted. You get chirped here for every haircut. So yeah, I thought, bring a little energy, and we haven't scored the last few games and lost, so switch it out. My hair grows fast.”
The Senators will be without forward Nick Cousins for a while after he and Jacob Quillan, who was making his NHL debut with Toronto, had a knee-on-knee collision early in the game.
Ottawa hosts Utah on Sunday and will be recalling a forward from its American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2025.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
