The Maple Leafs were 0-for-3 with the man advantage and gave up a shorthanded goal that began a string of four unanswered tallies from the Senators.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had the game under control.
Up 2-0 after one period against the Ottawa Senators, things began to unravel in the second period when the Maple Leafs surrendered a shorthanded goal to Parker Kelly.
After Auston Matthews and William Nylander lost the puck deep in Ottawa's zone, Claude Giroux rushed up with a burst of speed to create a 2-on-1 chance. Nylander and Morgan Rielly both ended up taking Giroux, leaving Kelly open for the pass and the goal. the goal was the first of four unanswered tallies in a 4-2 victory for Ottawa.
"What I didn't love about is I thought we were really outworked on out power play," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. "That part is not acceptable."
The Senators had two additional shorthanded chances in that second period.
Keefe admitted there were chances for Toronto that had they executed better, it likely doesn't get talked about it. Toronto had several chances where the puck was on the goal line or in front of an empty net, only to have a Senators player get a stick on it at the last minute.
Sens defenseman Artem Zub saved a goal in the first period.
In the third period, Jake Sanderson stopped Tyler Bertuzzi from scoring what looked to be a sure equalizer with Ottawa up 3-2.
But in the end, it's the effort with the man advantage that stuck out most for Keefe.
"A lot of the issues on the power play were simply Ottawa outworking us in those spots," he said. "Same with the 6-on-5."
The Leafs pulled the goalie with three minutes left in the game and Brady Tkachuk quickly iced the game with an empty netter.
Both teams were playing their first game following a league-mandated three-day holiday break.
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