Giroux breaks 2nd-period tie, Senators beat Maple Leafs 4-2 for 6th straight victory

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TORONTO (AP) — Claude Giroux broke a second-period tie on a power play and the Ottawa Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Saturday night for their sixth straight victory.

Jake Sanderson, David Perron and Michael Amadio, into the empty net, also scored. Linus Ullmark made 20 saves.

William Nylander and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 21 shots. The Maple Leafs have dropped five of six.

The Senators trail their provincial rival by four points in the Atlantic Division standings. Toronto sits third after Tampa Bay beat Boston 6-2, while fourth-place Ottawa occupies the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.

Ottawa took a 3-2 lead when Giroux’s centering pass to Ridly Greig glanced off the stick of Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev and past Stolarz.

Senators: Ottawa won the season series 3-0-0.

Maple Leafs: Matthews skipped the morning skate following Friday’s team off-day. The Toronto captain entered with just three goals in his last 16 games before scoring Saturday.

Toronto defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson took an interference penalty on Matthew Highmore with an attempted reverse hit, setting up Giroux’s power-play goal.