» Max Domi the OT hero as Maple Leafs beat Senators in Game 2

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Take a breath, Leafs Nation.

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The Maple Leafs are heading to the nation’s capital with a two-game grip in the Battle of Ontario.

After failing to hold a 2-0 lead on Tuesday night, the Leafs emerged with a 3-2 win in overtime when Max Domi scored at 3:09 at Scotiabank Arena.

The Leafs lead the best-of-seven 2-0 with Game 3 on Thursday night in Ottawa.

Domi beat Sens goalie Linus Ullmark high to the blocker side after getting the puck past a couple of Senators in the offensive zone. Simon Benoit had the only assist on the goal.

For the first time since the opening round of the 2002 playoffs, the Leafs have a 2-0 lead in a series. Twenty-three years ago, the Leafs beat the New York Islanders twice at home to start and went on to win the series in seven games. The Leafs went 15 series in the interim without winning the first two games.

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The Leafs appeared to be in good shape, relatively speaking, as the third period progressed.

Failure to put the Sens away with an insurance goal, however, bit them.

Ottawa hadn’t recorded a shot on goal in the period when former Leafs farmhand Adam Gaudette deflected a Tyler Kleven shot past Stolarz at 14:47.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson dropped the puck to no one behind the Leafs net — Domi couldn’t recover in time to get it — and Tim Stutzle got it to Kleven at the point. Gaudette got enough of the shot to re-direct the puck over the right shoulder of Anthony Stolarz.

The Leafs outshot the Sens 9-4 in the third. Early in the period, it appeared Toronto was going to get a four-minute power play when Thomas Chabot high-sticked Mitch Marner, who showed the referees the bloody evidence. After a review, though, it was ruled Chabot caught Marner on the follow-through, so there was no penalty.

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Coach Craig Berube wouldn’t have been pleased with the second, as the Leafs stopped playing assertive hockey and were outshot 13-3. At five-on-five in the second, the Sens had 24 shot attempts and the Leafs just four, but it was during a power play that Ottawa broke through.

Captain Brady Tkachuk, the target of “Brady sucks!” chants as he was in Game 1, got some revenge at 15:41. Nick Robertson was serving a high-sticking minor when Tkachuk’s pass hit the skate of Leafs defenceman Brandon Carlo and went into the net before Stolarz could recover to make a save.

The Leafs had a 2-0 lead before the nine minutes passed in the first period.

Two goals on their first four shots, no less.

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A pass by William Nylander to Morgan Rielly didn’t find the defenceman’s stick, but hit Rielly’s left skate and the puck made it over the goal line. The goal came at 3:43, and the crowd, already on its toes after Mitch Marner hit the post, went crazy.

After killing off a Chris Tanev minor — Stolarz made large saves on Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens — the Leafs scored their fourth power-play goal of the series.

John Tavares’ shot was stopped by Ullmark and puck bounced off defenceman Nick Jensen, who was worried about Matthew Knies at the net-front, and went into the net at 8:20. As they did in Game 1 on three of their power plays, the Leafs struck quickly, scoring just 18 seconds after Artem Zub started serving a tripping minor.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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