Benoit Nets Overtime Winner as Maple Leafs Push Senators to Brink with 3-0 Series Lead

 OTTAWA — The Toronto Maple Leafs are one win away from advancing to the second round of the NHL playoffs after edging the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night.

Simon Benoit played the hero, scoring just 1:19 into the extra frame with a blast through traffic off an offensive zone faceoff. The goal gave Toronto a commanding 3-0 lead in the first-round Battle of Ontario series.

Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies also scored for the Leafs, while goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 18 saves. Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk responded for Ottawa, with Linus Ullmark stopping 17 shots.

Toronto claimed Game 1 in dominant fashion, 6-2, and followed up with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2. Thursday's matchup marked the Senators' first home playoff game since the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, ending a seven-year post-season drought.

Matthews, who had been quiet through the first two games, broke through early in the third period with a one-timer set up by Mitch Marner. Tkachuk answered with a wrist shot off a Giroux feed to tie it at 2-2 with 8:38 left in regulation.

Giroux had opened the scoring on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the second period. Toronto drew even later in the frame when Knies’ centring pass deflected off Ottawa’s Shane Pinto and trickled past Ullmark.

Stolarz stood tall early in the game, stopping a prime Tim Stützle chance, while William Nylander generated Toronto’s best opportunity of the first period with a breakaway slapshot.

NOTES:

• Leafs winger Max Pacioretty returned to action after a 75-day absence, replacing Nick Robertson in the lineup.

• Thursday marked 2,891 days since Ottawa’s last home playoff game—May 23, 2017, a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Final.

Game 4 is set for Saturday in Ottawa, where the Senators will try to avoid elimination.