The victory in Round One of the Battle of Ontario went to the Ottawa Senators in a battle of
Ottawa Senators forward Shean Donovan scored the first goal on what Toronto called a questionable call. Donovan batted the puck out of the air on a play that the Maple Leafs thought was a high stick.
Another critical mistake by a Maple Leafs defender would lead to the eventual game winner. Luke Schenn caught Senators winger Milan Michalek with a high stick, while at the same time dragging him down from behind. This resulted in both a two-minute minor and a penalty shot. Daniel Alfredsson took the shot for the injured Michalek.
Alfredsson gave the rookie net minder a rude welcome to the NHL, deking the goalie out of his pads. ``Maybe I'll be able to get him once,'' Alfredsson said with a smile. ``I'm sure he'll be better prepared next time.''
Gustavsson never saw the deke coming.
``It was good penalty shot from him,'' he said. ``I thought he was going to shoot, but he fooled me there.''
Stajan would score on a power play late in the game, but it would be too little too late for a Maple Leafs team that just seems disorganized.
``We'll find most of our forwards tomorrow,'' said Wilson. ``That was almost an embarrassing effort from seven or eight guys who we're really counting on heavily.''
Rookie Viktor Stalberg, who had a fantastic pre-season, left with an injury after a run in with Senators defenseman Anton Volchenkov.
Toronto's mistake master Mike Komisarek appeared to have scored the tying goal, but the shot bounced off both posts and never crossed the goal line.
Pascal Leclaire finished with 26 saves while rookie Gustvasson performed admirably in his starting debut, stopping 26 shots as well. Hope Luke Schenn is kicking himself for letting his team mates down.
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