Nazem Kadri Scores Twice As Maple Leafs Beat Senators 4-3 In Pre-Season Play
Posted September 29, 2010 10:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nazem Kadri gave Toronto much to think about Wednesday night, scoring two goals and picking up an assist on the winning goal in the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 pre-season win over the Ottawa Senators.
Nikolai Kulemin and Phil Kessel also scored for Toronto, while goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 22 shots.
Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Chris Campoli, with a goal and an assist, scored for the Senators, while Pascal Leclaire made 19 saves in his second game of the pre-season.
This was the third meeting between the two teams and it appears the provincial rivalry has found a renewed energy.
The Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on power-play goals by Kulemin and Kadri as the Senators spent much of the period shorthanded.
The game was seen as a final opportunity for many players to make a case for themselves, but perhaps no one more than Kadri.
The Leafs prospect has fallen far short of expectations to this point in training camp but was given an opportunity to prove himself on the top line with Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak.
Kadri made the most of the opportunity, first scoring on the power play late in the first period.
Both teams continued to play physical in the second and the Senators held their breath when Leclaire was slow to get up after being bumped by Mikhail Grabovski.
Midway through the period the 15,088 in attendance witnessed a rare altercation between Alex Kovalev and Francois Beauchemin. Beauchemin easily came out on top. Kovalev’s last fight came against the Leafs’ Darcy Tucker in March 2006.
The Senators managed to win the second period and tied the game on goals from Michalek and Campoli.
Alfredsson gave the Senators a 3-2 lead just over a minute into the third as he beat Giguere stick side from just outside the crease.
Kadri tied the game with just under six minutes remaining when he picked up his own rebound and beat Leclaire from in tight.
Kessel scored the winner on the power play with just over one minute remaining.
