In Ottawa, the Senators scored three times in the middle frame on Saturday night and raked the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3.
Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves in the win.
The Senators moved to 21-25-2 off their third straight win.
“I thought we were slow off the mark,” Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said. “But I think that’s kind of expected after being off for [nine] days and not having played. I think Toronto took advantage of that, but I liked how we finished the first period. I thought we gained some momentum. I thought we engaged a lot more. We started to be more physical. We started to control the puck in the offensive zone, and I think that helped our play.”
Auston Matthews potted his 42nd of the campaign at 3:45 of the opening stanza to stake the Leafs to a 1-0 lead.
Ottawa’s Claude Giroux sent the game to the middle frame tied, 1-1, with a marker at 17:53 of the first.
“I think, obviously, we don’t get as frustrated as we used to,” Giroux said. “We just know that if we play our game and if we’re consistent in what we’re doing, good things are going to happen. It’s a good team at the other side, but we were able to play a good 50 minutes.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 26-16-8.
“We missed a ton of chances. We probably could have scored more than we did tonight,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “And we didn’t. So, we lose the game.”
In the middle frame, the Senators wrested control from Toronto with three goals.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored at 2:04 for a 2-1 lead to the Sens.
Matthew Knies got the Maple Leafs at 2-2 when he scored midway through the second period.
The Senators replied to that goal with a pair of strikes.with
“We gave up too much in transition,” Keefe said. “That’s what they do very well, probably better than any team in the NHL. We fed into that.”
Shane Pinto restored the Sens lead, 3-2, at 11:13 off a tip in.
Josh Norris then hit at 15:13 for a 4-2 lead headed to then third period.
“I thought we played a good game, obviously coming off the (NHL All-Star) break,” Norris said. “It wasn’t perfect at the start, but I think it’s just the maturity that we’ve shown the last stretch of games, so it’s good to get the win tonight.”
In the third, Max Domi trimmed the deficit to 4-2 when he potted a marker at 5:12.
“They’re an offensive team, for sure. That’s definitely their strength,” Domi said. “They’ve got a lot of talent, transition the puck pretty well. But their weakness is probably more in their own zone, and we tried to attack that as much as we could. Like I 
said, we did a lot of good things, but there’s some things we could’ve done better.”
Ridly Greig hit an empty net with six seconds left on the regulation clock for the 5-3 final. The goal was remarkable in that Greg opted for a slap shot when he reached less than 10 feet from the crease.
Morgen Reilly took exception and jumped Greg along the left boards. The incident resulted in a brawl with Reilly getting a major and game misconduct.
Martin Jones made 28 saves in the loss.
“As a team, I thought we were really good at times,” Jones said. “There were some stretches in the game where we handed them a little bit of offense. And they’re a good team, they’re a good offensive group, so they’re going to make plays, and they were able to finish on a couple.”
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