MICHAEL AMADIO

Senators Take It as Maple Leafs Find Only Iron

Ullmark steadies Ottawa as Matthews stays busy and Nylander keeps catching iron.

Ottawa created the better looks and still had to sweat out a 3-2 win because Toronto kept pinging the frame. The Senators owned the quality battle — their expected goals were 4.89 to Toronto’s 3.49 — but the scoreboard stayed tight thanks to a wild night of iron: eight posts and crossbars, most of them off Leaf sticks.

Even with Toronto pushing more attempts (70-53), Linus Ullmark held the line for Ottawa. He stopped 27 of 29, and the chances he faced were worth about 3.49 goals — and he gave up only two. Across the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 26 of 29 but didn’t get the same help from the metal.

For Ottawa, Claude Giroux picked two helpers, Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist, and Stephen Halliday and Michael Amadio finished their looks, with Amadio also clanging iron once. Toronto’s stars were buzzing: Auston Matthews fired six shots and hit iron, while William Nylander nicked the bar twice and added an assist.