Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2
OTTAWA -- Colin Greening won bragging rights with his good friend Saturday night at Scotiabank Place.
Greening's goal with 24 seconds left in the third period gave the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of a divided crowd of 19,499 in the Battle of Ontario.
Greening, who also assisted on the other two Senators goals, went to Cornell University with Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens. The two had dinner together Friday night in Ottawa.
It was the fourth win in a row for the Senators. Ben Bishop, filling in for injured No. 1 goalie Craig Anderson, stopped 26 shots in the Ottawa net. Scrivens made 32 saves.
A power-play goal off a goal-mouth scramble by the Leafs' Clarke MaCarthur tied the score at 2-2 with just under 13 minutes left in the third period.
The Senators killed off a penalty to Chris Neil that was called with 5:52 to play.
Erik Condra's briefly-debated third goal of the season with 43 seconds left in the second period gave the Senators their first lead of the night. Condra knocked Scrivens over and the net off its hinges as he fired the puck in the net after chasing the rebound of an Eric Gryba point shot. But replays clearly showed he was pushed from behind by Leafs defenseman Korbinian Holzer.
Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski and Ottawa's Mika Zibanejad traded goals in a first period that had the Senators outshooting the Leafs 14-8. It was the fifth of the season for Grabovski, who banked a shot in off the skate of Senators defenseman Sergei Gonchar.
Zibanejad's third goal of the season and second in two games came off a deflection of a pass by Greening.
NOTES: Toronto coach Randy Carlyle raised some eyebrows when asked Saturday morning about a Senators injury list that has seven regulars, including defending Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, Anderson, top center Jason Spezza and winger Milan Michalek, who led the team last season with 35 goals. "We just haven't made as big a splash about our share of injuries, I guess," Carlyle said. "Our media isn't allowed to do that." ... Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game ... The Senators had planned to get defenseman Mike Lundin back in the lineup, but he was a late scratch with the flu. ... Michalek skated for the first time since injuring his knee in a pre-game warm-up five games ago. It's hoped he will return next week. ... Grabovski's first-period goal was his second in three games. He had an 11-game slump before that. ... The Leafs entered the night searching for their 12th victory. It would have been the first time they reached that number in 20 games since 1993-94.
