In Ottawa,oe Thornton potted his first goal as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win over the Senators on Friday night. 
“I wanted to give it over to [Auston] but they kind of took him away, so I kind of saw the goalie cheating a bit so I shot,” Thornton said of his first-period goal. “The amount of attention that these two guys get, I’ve just got to get open for them and just be ready to shoot the puck and be ready to distribute to these guys.”
The win got the Leafs even ar 1-1-0 on the season after dropping the opener to the Senators on Thursday.
Jack Campbell made 17 saves to get the win for Toronto.
“He looked excellent,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s a tough night for a goalie; he [went] long stretches without shots, and we did still give up some looks at the net, guys in behind us and those kind of things.”
Mitchell Marner and uston Matthews also scored for the Leafs.
“It’s been so fun with ‘Mitchy’ and [Matthews],” Thornton said. “We have a lot of fun out there. I think we’ll continue to keep growing as a line because we are having fun and we get excited before every game, and I think you can tell each game we’re getting better, and that’s a real good sign. I love playing with those two kids.”
Tim Stutzle and Nick Paul scored for the Senators.
“I have more confidence, for sure,” Stutzle said when comparing his second NHL game to his first Friday. “I felt better making my plays. I’m kind of a creative player, so I want to have the puck and make plays. I thought today I played with more confidence and it worked out pretty good.”
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Matt Murray made 38 saves in the loss.
“We just couldn’t create much, ourselves,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said. “Give them credit. They came to play, they checked, worked really hard, they penalty kill did the job for them (5-for-5) and their goaltending was good.”
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