OTTAWA – Michael Bunting scored three power play goals to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators in preseason action Wednesday night.
David Kampf also scored, while Josh Ho-Sang, invited to the camp in a professional test, received two assists.
Petr Mrazek was not too busy and stopped all 19 shots he faced at the Toronto net.
Ottawa’s Filip Gustavsson, who played the first two periods, allowed three goals on 25 shots. Mads Sogaard allowed one goal on seven relief shots
The Leafs froze a fairly innocuous lineup, but defied the Senators. Ottawa, which had several veterans playing, seemed to lack intensity and stayed flat for much of the game.
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Bunting scored his third of the night in the final 90 seconds of the game.
Toronto was 3 of 8 in the power play.
Ottawa went 0 for 5 with the man advantage as they struggled to create some momentum.
Two second-period power play goals from Bunting gave the Leafs a 3-0 lead.
The first came from a good pass from Ho-Sang, and just over two minutes later, he recovered the second of the night when he landed a point shot from Rasmus Sandin.
The Leafs opened the scoring in the 13th minute of the first period when Kampf was able to redirect a shot to beat Gustavsson. It was a difficult break for the Ottawa keeper as he had just made two good saves.
Provincial health regulations currently allow 50 percent of the capacity, equivalent to 9,326 fans, to be allowed at the Canadian Tire Center, but the building was surprisingly empty on Wednesday.
Ottawa will return to action on Friday night as they play the first of a series at home and at home with the Montreal Canadiens.
Notes: Zach Stanford, acquired Saturday in the St. Louis Blues trade for Logan Brown, made his Senate debut Wednesday night. … Senators signed forward Zack Ostapchuk, selected 39 overall in 2021, to a three-year entry-level contract earlier on Wednesday.
This Canadian Press report was first published on September 29, 2021.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca