The Maple Leafs turned the page on Saturday, from the captain to the kids.
As Dion Phaneuf cut the cord, the five rookies in Toronto’s lineup made their presence known in a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators that rekindled the Battle of Ontario.
The Leafs had goals from William Nylander and the second of the year from Nikita Soshnikov. It represented the first time two first-year Toronto rookies scored in the same games since Tyler Bozak and Carl Gunnerson did it six years ago this month in Pittsburgh.
But Zack Smith’s goal with 2:15 to play, handed Toronto its fifth straight loss, tying a season high as their string of overall defeats starts to get close to 50.