• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Maple Leafs, Senators meet in second of back-to-back games

Oct 5, 2006 - 1:53 PM Toronto (0-1-0) at Ottawa (1-0-0) 7:00 pm EDT

OTTAWA (Ticker) - The Ottawa Senators have dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs recently, and hope the trend continues.

The Northeast Division rivals face off on Thursday night in the second of back-to-back games to open the season.

The Senators opened their season with a 4-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, continuing their dominance of Toronto. Ottawa has beaten Toronto in eight of their last nine meetings and have outscored the Leafs, 44-20.

Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist while Martin Gerber turned aside 33 shots in his Ottawa debut to lift the Senators. Chris Neil, Christoph Schubert and Daniel Alfredsson had the other goals for the Senators, who went 1-for-6 on the power play.

Mats Sundin scored the lone goal on a penalty shot for the Leafs, who were blanked in six attempts with the extra skater. Goaltender Andrew Raycroft stopped 32 shots in his Toronto debut.

Toronto, which has not won the Stanley Cup since 1967, has a new coach in Paul Maurice. The youngest coach in the league at age 39, Maurice has not coached in the league since he was let go by the Carolina Hurricanes on December 14, 2003.

Two new faces in Toronto uniforms are Raycroft and center Michael Peca. Raycroft, the 2004 Calder Trophy winner, was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins over the summer, while Peca was signed as a free agent.

The Senators are trying to rebound from still another disappointing playoff failure. Ottawa won the Eastern Conference and was viewed by many as a Stanley Cup favorite, but was bounced out in the second round by the Buffalo Sabres in a five-game upset.