New captain (and Dad) Thomas Chabot had two points in a 3-2 win over Toronto, but a concerning injury to star defenseman Jake Sanderson cast a shadow over a hard-fought win.
Stephen Halliday's third period power play goal gave the Senators a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The captaincy and fatherhood clearly agree with Thomas Chabot who had a fantastic game with a goal and an assist, repeatedly and confidently jumping up into the play to support the offensive rush. Michael Amadio had the other Sens goal. Claude Giroux had an excellent game, adding two assists.
The shots on the night were even at 29 apiece. Linus Ullmark made 27 saves but he did have half a dozen shots go off the crossbar or post.
With the victory, the Sens are now 8-1 all time on opening night when they face the Leafs.
The bigger concern for the Sens is the status of Jake Sanderson. The Senators' top defenceman, who had already been dealing with an injury throughout training camp, left the game after six shifts and did not return.
He appeared to awkwardly stretch out his leg during a play along the boards while battling ex-Senator Nick Paul. Cameras later caught Sanderson looking visibly frustrated on the bench, and he eventually left the game, adding another injury concern to a player who had only just been cleared to return to the lineup.
The Senators opened the scoring late in the first period, and it came from the player wearing the captain’s “C” for the first time.
Thomas Chabot scored in his first game as Senators captain, jumping up in the play and cashing in on a rebound with 1:09 remaining in the opening period. Claude Giroux and Shane Pinto picked up the assists, giving the Sens a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Toronto answered almost immediately to start the second. Just 33 seconds into the period, Auston Matthews tipped a puck past Linus Ullmark to tie the game 1-1.
The Leafs then took their first lead at 7:06 on the power play when Kirill Marchenko scored on a slick backhand to make it 2-1. The goal also marked the first power-play goal against Daniel Alfredsson's old team since he took over coaching the Leafs' power-play unit.
But the Senators responded before the period was over. At 12:40, Michael Amadio took a perfect saucer pass from Tim Stützle and fired home his first of the season to tie the game 2-2. Chabot picked up the secondary assist, giving the new captain two points on the night.
After Halliday gave the Senators the lead, both sides had some fantastic chances, but to their credit, after a suspect holding penalty on William Eklund with about five minutes left to play, the Sens killed that off and played smothering defence the rest of the way.
The Senators will be in Boston on Monday and Detroit on Tuesday.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
