Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Dany Heatley's fourth career hat trick keyed a
five-goal second period and helped lead the Ottawa Senators to a dominating
7-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Place.
Jason Spezza, Heatley and defenseman Joe Corvo accumulated a whopping 13 total
points for the game, setting several team records in the process. Antoine
Vermette added a goal and an assist while goaltender Ray Emery stopped 29
shots for Ottawa, which swept the home-and-home series and won its third
straight game.
"When we're skating and moving the puck, using each other, then we're going to
do a lot of damage," Heatley said.
Jeff O'Neill and Bates Battaglia scored for Toronto, which has lost three
of its last four contests. Andrew Raycroft allowed seven goals on 40 shots in
the losing effort.
"We had a hard game at home," Toronto's Mats Sundin said. "Obviously both
these games were not good games. Our team, from our standpoint, gave up a lot
of chances."
The Senators broke through at 14:07 of the first period when Mike Fisher found
a loose puck laying at Leafs defenseman Ian White's foot and pushed it over
the goal line while sliding on his stomach.
The middle period saw an offensive explosion, as the teams combined for 30
shots and seven goals, three of which occurred within a span of 41 seconds.
At 3:05, Vermette lifted a soft wrister from the left side that caught
Raycroft by surprise just under the crossbar. 17 seconds later, the lead
bloomed to 3-0 as Heatley finished off a 3-on-2 by redirecting a Spezza feed
into the open net. Toronto's Battaglia finally countered within 24 seconds,
cutting the deficit to two when he batted his own rebound out of midair past
a stunned Emery.
The Leafs got back within 3-2 at the 11:50 mark. Alexei Ponikarovsky took the
puck from his own zone up the right side and forced a shot in on Emery, who
was unable to control the rebound before O'Neill crept in and stashed it home.
Soon after, at the 13:21 mark, the Sens grabbed a 4-2 edge. Spezza whipped a
cross-ice pass to Corvo, who was sneaking down the right side. Corvo took a
long stride and slapped home a 40-footer that Raycroft saw but was powerless
to stop.
Corvo, Spezza and Heatley also teamed up for Ottawa's fifth goal. Following an
errant point shot, the puck caromed off the boards before Spezza turned and
sent a quick feed into the slot. Heatley was in the right place at the right
time and ripped a one-timer past a shell-shocked Raycroft for his second tally
of the period.
The former Thrasher finished off his hat trick at 17:56 on the power play. He
reigned in a bouncing puck at his feet and in one motion, settled it and fired
a high wrist shot to the blocker side for a 6-2 Ottawa lead.
Ottawa scored the lone goal of the third. Just 2:55 in, Corvo intercepted a
Toronto clearing attempt in the neutral zone, skated ahead, and sent a lead
pass to Spezza. Spezza then faked a shot from the edge of the right circle,
took another stride and put home a wrister on the short side to cap the
scoring.
