Leafs lead Senators after first period of Game 1 of Battle of Ontario
Published
The Toronto Maple Leafs hold a 2-1 lead over the Ottawa Senators after 20 minutes in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday night.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mitch Marner provided the goals for the Maple Leafs while Drake Batherson answered back for the Senators.
Ekman-Larsson opened the scoring in the series at the 7:08 mark of the first period to give the Leafs an early 1-0 lead.
Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner then accepted a break-away pass from Auston Matthews and fired a wrist shot over the shoulder of Linus Ullmark to extend the lead to 2-0 just past the halfway mark of the opening frame.
The Senators got on the board for the first time in the series when Drake Batherson scored his first playoff goal to cut the lead to 2-1 with less than four minutes remaining in the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 on Sunday.
Toronto went 52-26-4 and finished atop the Atlantic Division this season.
Ottawa clinched the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a record of 45-30-7 and return to the postseason for the first time since 2017.
The Senators and Leafs last clashed in the Battle of Ontario in 2004.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday.