Samsonov, Maple Leafs shut out Senators to keep pace in Atlantic

OTTAWA -- Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-0 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

The shutout was Samsonov's fourth of the season and 10th in the NHL.
"Terrific. That's obviously what you want to see from him," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "I didn't think there was a whole lot of offense either way in the game here tonight, but certainly they probably had the better of the chances, I would say, in the game. He was excellent."
It was also Samsonov's first win since March 17. He recently took a week off for the birth of his son, Miroslav.
"I needed to get back on track, back on the win track," Samsonov said. "I got some extra focus for today.
"Everyone knows Ottawa is a very high-paced team, and those guys did a lot of shots today. We just tried to prepare for this. Sheldon, he said a lot about this before the game. We're happy we got the two points, and we'll keep it rolling."

William Nylander and Michael Bunting scored, and Radim Zohorna also scored in his debut for the Maple Leafs (45-20-10), who are 2-0-1 in their past three games.
Toronto remained four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the New York Islanders 5-0 on Saturday.
Mads Sogaard allowed three goals on 16 shots before leaving after the second period because of an illness for the Senators (37-34-5), who had won three of four (3-1-0). Cam Talbot made four saves in relief.
"Another night where hard work should get rewarded," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "It's not the outcome we wanted, of course, but everyone left it all out there, so you definitely take some pride in that."
The Senators fell six points behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Florida defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-0 on Saturday.
"It's been a battle with the amount of guys that have gone out," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said of the team's lengthy injury list, which includes defensemen Thomas Chabot and Jakob Chychrun, forward Josh Norris and goaltender Anton Forsberg. "I can't fault the guys. They gave everything they had tonight. It's that simple. And we'll do that again tomorrow (at the Blue Jackets), and we'll do it every game until they tell us we can't play."
Bunting gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 1:23 of the second period. He controlled a loose puck near the left hash marks, turned and shot glove side on Sogaard.
"We battled hard all game," Senators defenseman Nick Holden said. "Came out and had a really good first period. I think they did a pretty good job getting pucks behind us, and we didn't break out as good in the second period and gave them some chances, and they obviously capitalized on those."
Nylander made it 2-0 at 12:56 when he took a backhand, cross-ice pass from Alex Kerfoot and scored glove side from the left hash marks.
"One of the things we've been talking the most about is managing the lead and not letting teams [back] into it," Keefe said. "We took another penalty in the third period that opened the door a little bit for them, but by and large, I really liked how we handled the game once we had the lead."

Zohorna extended it to 3-0 at 18:09 of the second, scoring short side from the left circle.
"I felt great," Zohorna said. "To be a part of this team, to be right next to these big, big players, great players, it's such an honour. I'm just enjoying every minute here."
NOTES: Zohorna, who played eight games for the Calgary Flames earlier this season, scored in his debut with a team for the second time in the League. He also scored in his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25, 2021. … Sogaard will not travel with the team on its upcoming three-game road trip. A goaltender will be recalled by Sunday, Smith said.