Matt Murray, one of nine players making their Sens debuts, backstopped the Sens to a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Canadian Tire Centre Friday in the team's first game of the season.
"Everybody did a heck of a job," Murray said. "Our D had a couple of huge blocks. Lots of guys were blocking shots and that's what it takes to win. I really liked the entire effort."
Murray made 20 saves in the process while Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Zaitsev all recorded multi-point games.
"He did a great job for us tonight," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said of Murray. "I think that gives our young team a lot of confidence when you've got a goalie in there that's capable to close games out."
The evening also saw the highly anticipated NHL debut of Tim Stützle, who on his 19th birthday, played 12:11 and recorded one shot and one hit.
"I thought he played well," Tkachuk said of Stützle. "I thought he looked really good. Great speed and you can really tell he's going to be a stud not only on our team but throughout the whole league. I think everybody should be excited. He was picked third overall for a reason. He's an unbelievable player."
Ottawa (1-0-0) fell behind 9:59 in as Zach Hyman swatted a puck out of the air off of a Murray save on the power play to put Toronto (1-1-0) up 1-0 but with Joe Thornton in the penalty box, and the Maple Leafs then taking a too many men on the ice penalty, the Senators found the tying goal late in the frame.
Thomas Chabot ripped home a one-timer with 44 seconds left in the period on the 5-on-3 advantage for the first Sens goal of the season as he hammered in Drake Batherson's feed. Norris had the secondary assist, giving the rookie his first career NHL point.
