McElhinney wins first game in goal after joining Maple Leafs
OTTAWA -- Curtis McElhinney made his debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs by stopping 35 shots in a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre.
The win pulled the Maple Leafs into a tie with the Senators in the Eastern Conference standings.
McElhinney, who was picked up off waivers by the Maple Leafs earlier this week, played seven games with the Senators in the 2010-11 season.
Nazem Kadri led the Maple Leafs with two goals. Tyler Bozak and Connor Brown had the others.
Dion Phaneuf and Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa.
Making his 18th consecutive appearance in the Senators net, Mike Condon stopped 23 shots.
Kadri put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-2 with his second of the night at 2:31 of the third period, getting off a shot from the slot while surrounded by two Senators to beat Condon over his catching mitt.
The Maple Leafs went up by two at 7:52 when Auston Matthews won an offensive zone faceoff and put the puck through the skates of Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau before picking it up on the other side and sending a quick pass to Connor Brown, who one-timed a shot for his 11th goal of the season.
The Senators spotted the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead but battled back with two goals of their own in the second period to leave the teams tied with 20 minutes left.
Armed with the top-ranked road power play in the league, the Maple Leafs capitalized on a Zack Smith penalty when Bozak took a shot from the point that created a loose puck in the crease. Kadri finally pushed it across the line for his 17th goal of the season at 6:26.
The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 just 67 seconds into the second period, when Bobby Ryan attempted to pass the puck through the middle and it went off Mitch Marner's stick to Bozak. He held onto the puck until Condon committed, then fired it just under the bar for his 10th goal of the season.
Phaneuf scored against his former team at 9:15 of the second period when he took a point shot that went in off the backside of Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner for his sixth goal of the season.
Turris knotted the score at 18:10, taking a pass from Ryan and skating to near the bottom of the right wing faceoff circle and firing a snap shot that went in just under the crossbar. It was his team-leading 15th goal of the season.
NOTES: D Frederik Claesson was Ottawa's lone scratch. Claesson has played just two games since Nov. 13. ... Attempting to come back from concussion issues that kept him out of the lineup for all but four games in the past two years, Senators LW Clarke MacArthur had his final test on Friday. He is targeting a return at the end of the month. ... The Maple Leafs' scratches were D Frank Corrado and LW Jost Leivo. Toronto also scratched G Garrett Sparks, who was recalled from the Toronto Marlies as a precautionary measure. ... The Senators' next game is Tuesday in St. Louis. The Maple Leafs are at home to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.