Justin Holl is the hero in Maple Leafs' win over Senators

It was a cagey affair but the first instalment of this year’s Battle of Ontario saw both sides trade blows, and this geopolitical rivalry has real teeth again.

The new-look Ottawa Senators threw everything they could at the Toronto Maple Leafs and then some, but after a valiant effort from the road side, Toronto emerged with a 3-2 victory. Justin Holl, who drew the ire of Maple Leafs fans through the first two games, crashed the net aggressively and banged home the winner with just under two minutes remaining in the third period.

Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov made 26 stops in the winning effort while Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg recorded 29 saves.

David Kampf scored in the final minute of the second period, while William Nylander placed a laser past Forsberg on the power play during the third period. Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux notched the goals for the Senators.

Here are three takeaways from the dramatic tilt at Scotiabank Arena.

Holl-Muzzin pairing responds to rampant criticism with clutch play

It’s only the first week of the NHL season and the Maple Leafs fan base had already found two scapegoats, the receptacle of all the pent-up contempt they’ve developed after six consecutive first-round playoff exits. The pairing of Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl was under fire and when the latter lobbed the puck up the ice somewhat carelessly midway through the second period for a turnover, he was booed by the Scotiabank Arena crowd.

Toronto can be a fickle place. Muzzin and Holl submitted their best game of the week, getting some much-needed wins, and the fan base has to get off their collective backs, at least temporarily. Although the Maple Leafs dominated the advanced stats charts through two periods, they had nothing to show for it, until Muzzin stepped up into the rush, where his seeing-eye shot was deflected by David Kampf, tying the game at one apiece entering the second intermission.

Muzzin was unfairly derided for his declining speed, as if the fans and analysts were supposed to overlook the several foot injuries he’s suffered in service of the Maple Leafs. And yet, this was Muzzin at his best, calm, calculated, while providing surplus offence. Muzzin finished with a 58.33 Corsi For share at 5-on-5, while Holl produced a 57.50 percentage share, according to Natural Stat Trick. Not too shabby for a duo that Maple Leafs fans wanted to be abolished immediately.

Holl often operated as a makeshift fourth forward, jumping into the rush several times — the high line he often plays can be maddening, and it’s the tendency in his game that opponents are most likely to exploit. All the criticism was rendered null and void when Holl executed a give-and-go with Michael Bunting, whacking home a rebound with one minute and fifty five seconds left on the clock.

“It was a bit of a clusterf— Whoops. Sorry. Sorry, everyone,” Bunting remarked, laughing about his inability to censor himself post-game.

And frankly, who could blame him? It was Holl seizing opportunity when it mattered and the pair that had been harshly derided through two games shone brightest for the Maple Leafs in the final frame.

Ottawa’s aggressive offseason has reignited the Battle of Ontario

It’s clear that the Senators are internally sick and tired of losing, no longer content with being in the middle of a long rebuild. This summer, Ottawa traded for Alex DeBrincat and signed Claude Giroux to a three-year deal, adding some established veterans in the room with their talented, young core. There are distinct similarities between the Senators and the Maple Leafs of yesteryear and even in the best of times, Ottawa cringes at being considered Toronto’s little brother. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are still in the early stages of their primes, but entering year seven, they’re the establishment, and the Senators are the challengers. Time has a cruel way of passing by, history has an odd way of repeating itself.

Although it was a one-sided onslaught for the past half-decade, the Battle of Ontario is once again treacherous.

“They've gone through their rebuilding and development stage and now they're in the hunt to make the playoffs and really believe in the moves that they've made,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said to Yahoo Sports Canada after Saturday’s morning skate. “Clearly, they've added depth to their forward group so I think there's some similarities there for sure and every time we play Ottawa, we know we're in a game. Certainly this season with the expectations and excitement around their team and what we have to go with that, it should make for a very spirited game.”

Toronto were the young darlings of the NHL not so long ago, and Ottawa’s rebuild in many ways has been remarkably similar. They’ve absolutely nailed the draft recently and it’s now paying off; Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson are cornerstones from the 2020 draft, the latter of whom recording his first NHL point on Shane Pinto’s opening goal. Pinto was a second round steal in 2019 who is coming into his own, a fixture on Ottawa’s powerplay, Drake Batherson was a gem from the 2017 fourth round, and sandwiched in between is captain Brady Tkachuk, the fourth overall pick from 2018. Ottawa nailed a ton of top-five picks, then when it became ready to contend for a playoff spot, added steady greybeards to its roster. It all seems so familiar.

From our vantage point, Ottawa may still be a year away from breaking into the postseason for the first time since dancing all the way to the Eastern Conference finals in 2016-17, but it always plays Toronto tough. Saturday was no exception. Ottawa showed no deference to Toronto and during the first period where the home team led every shot-creation metric by some distance, it was the young, road upstarts who took a 1-0 lead. Pinto got loose in space, after Giroux and Sanderson whipped the puck around, a combination of Ottawa’s youth movement infused with steady leadership.

And when it looked like the Maple Leafs were pulling away, there was Giroux righting the ship. William Nylander had Scotiabank Arena buzzing after placing a laser past Anton Forsberg on the man advantage with seven and a half minutes remaining, but Giroux punched the Maple Leafs right in the mouth during a goal-mouth scramble, tying the game back up at two apiece.

“They’re way deeper for sure,” Keefe told reporters post-game. “You look at the forwards and the additions of Giroux and DeBrincat, so dangerous but also versatile and what Giroux can bring on the faceoff dot. You also add Pinto and what he brings. We haven’t seen a lot from him, that makes a big difference to their team.

“Obviously, Sanderson on defence brings another element and their young players who are elite. You look at Tkachuk, Batherson, Stutzle, Norris, these are top line players in the NHL and they’re maturing and getting older. That’s where I was asked this morning about the similarities between their team and ours, and I think you can see the growth of their young players. So in addition to adding the depth, they’re just getting older. You can see that team is playoff ready and ready to compete for a spot.”

Ilya Samsonov acquits himself well but Toronto is scrambling for goaltending depth

The morning skate on Saturday was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill event before the real festivities kicked off, but things changed in an instant.

A few minutes into the skate, Matt Murray left the ice after consulting with Maple Leafs goaltending coach Curtis Sanford. It appeared to be a routine occurrence, but Sheldon Keefe told reporters afterwards that Murray had suffered a groin ailment — which was later revealed to be an adductor injury. It was a development that sent the Maple Leafs beat scrambling to CapFriendly, as the team currently has 50 professional contracts, and thereby, can’t add another goaltender immediately to the roster.

Murray was placed on long-term injured reserve and is expected to miss four weeks with an adductor injury. As per the LTIR designation, Murray will also be forced to miss a minimum of 10 games. Erik Kallgren — who suffered an injury of his own during a start Friday with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies — has been recalled on an emergency basis, and has been cleared to return. It’s a perilous situation for the Maple Leafs, whose goaltending was their glaring flaw on paper ahead of the 2022-23 season.

This may have been anticipated ahead of time. Murray spent the past two seasons with the Senators, and his former head coach hinted at the 27-year-old’s proneness to injury.

“Matt unfortunately in his time here, was injured all the time. Take nothing away from him. He was just hurt all the time,” D.J. Smith told reporters Friday.

Ilya Samsonov acquitted himself well after a rocky first period in Thursday’s home opener victory against the Capitals and excelled when he was called upon Saturday, especially as the Senators showed a tendency to get shots off in waves. Samsonov finished with 26 saves, but now the question is whether a Samsonov-Kallgren tandem will be good enough to help the Maple Leafs accrue a large enough baseline to work off in the vaunted Atlantic Division.

In fairness to Samsonov, he’s not remotely phased, telling reporters he’s ready all the time.

There’s little surprise he’s earned the full confidence of his head coach.

“He's played in the league. He's got experience. He's been nothing but great, in terms of his on-ice, off the ice since he's been around the facility and the time that we spent with him in the offseason.

“He's on a bit of a mission here this season and the door is now really open there for him.”

Toronto was already on thin ice between the pipes and now its management group may have to do some clever accounting to patch up its most obvious weakness. That is tomorrow’s problem, as the Maple Leafs are riding the highs of consecutive stellar starts from Samsonov.

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