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Alfredsson helps lift Senators over Maple Leafs

Nov 28, 2008 - 4:54 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- An eventful day for the Toronto Maple Leafs ended with a thud.

Captain Daniel Alfredsson tallied in the third round of a shootout on Thursday and the Ottawa Senators skated to a 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs, who are expected to announce Brian Burke as their new general manager in the upcoming days.

Jason Spezza also scored in the shootout and Alex Auld made 25 saves before denying Nikolai Kulemin and Lee Stempniak in the bonus format to secure the victory.

"There were a lot of Toronto fans here and that brought out the best in our fans," Auld said. "It was a tight checking game. We knew the Leafs work hard and we had to match that or better it. The shootout win was big for all of us."

Mike Fisher scored his third goal in his return to the lineup after missing two games with a knee injury for the Senators, who won their second in a row following a six-game losing skid.

"We've struggled a bit in shootouts lately so getting a win that way is great for us, for sure," Fisher said. "They're a young team that works and competes hard and we did expect it to be a good battle. They were coming off a tough loss and we're trying to fight for wins and it was a huge game for both teams. Obviously this is a good win for us."

Kulemin tallied in regulation and Vesa Toskala made 34 saves, but the Maple Leafs lost their fifth straight.

Spezza beat Toskala with a hard wrister to open the shootout and Kulemin followed with an unsuccessful attempt against Auld.

"When I looked up I saw that he was a little bit deeper and thought about going to my backhand, but he made the first move so I took my shot on the forehand," Spezza said. "You just do what you feel comfortable with in a shootout and tonight it worked out."

Dany Heatley's snapshot in the second round was stopped by Toskala and Auld then stymied Stempniak, who skated in his second game as a Maple Leaf after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

"I made some good saves but I just did my job tonight and sometimes you get lucky," Toskala said. "It's too bad we didn't get the two points, but getting one point is good too.

"They definitely came out hard but I thought we matched them. The guys skated well and we answered back quickly after they scored. From then on it was a battle and either team could have won this one in regulation."

Alfredsson then blasted a wrister past the glove of Toskala to secure Ottawa's fourth win in November.

"We need every point we can get so two points tonight is huge for us," Alfredsson said. "I saw what (Spezza) did and I saw how Toskala was playing the shooter, so I made up my mind before I went what I was going to do. That was kind of my go-to move for me and tonight it went in for me."

Fisher opened the scoring 3:54 into the first period with a wrist shot on the doorstep off a pass from Shean Donovan, who later left in the third with an upper-body injury.

"I thought we played a strong game and we got what we deserved," Senators coach Craig Hartsburg said. "We deserved to win the hockey game. We missed a lot of quality chances. We just have to continue on this path and if you keep getting chances like that ... eventually it will go in for some guys. You want it in the back of the net but you can't ask for much more. As long as we continue to create chances, we'll be fine."

However, Toronto pulled even 59 seconds later when Mikhail Grabovski wrapped around the net and slid a cross-crease pass to Kulemin, who was sitting on the doorstep.

The Leafs reportedly closed in on a deal to sign Burke, architect of Anaheim's 2007 Stanley Cup-winning team, to replace interim Cliff Fletcher as GM.

Burke has been linked to the Leafs' job for more than a year but the speculation grew stronger once he ended his tenure with the Ducks on November 13.

Burke's first order of business might be to improve his inherited team's defense. Toronto held the Senators' potent offense in check, but has still yielded a league-high 80 goals.

The Maple Leafs had won five of their past six meetings with the Senators.

"Toskala played really well," Alfredsson said. "We had some good chances but he turned us away and maybe stole a point for them in the third period. Alex (Auld) did a great job for us too and he was there when we needed him as well."