Maple Leafs lose to Senators in OT in Andersen's return

OTTAWA -- Frederik Andersen lost to the Ottawa Senators in overtime in his return to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.

Andersen made 24 saves in his first game for the Maple Leafs since March 19 because of a knee injury.
"I felt really good," Andersen said. "Some weird plays, some unfortunate bounces. Maybe that's rust. Maybe if I do a few things differently, those are saves. But overall, I felt really good."
Josh Norris scored with a one-timer nine seconds into overtime off a pass from Brady Tkachuk on a 2-on-1 to win it for the Senators.
"What a way to end the season, on a great pass from Brady," Norris said. "A great end of the year for the team too. We played so well down the stretch and that's very exciting. We're just happy with how it went, and we want to carry that into next year."
Parker Kelly scored in his NHL debut, Nikita Zaitsev had a goal and an assist, and
Filip Gustavsson
made 30 saves for Ottawa (23-28-5), which failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a fourth straight season but went 9-2-1 in its final 12 games.
"I'm just proud of the guys the last little bit, certainly because you're out of it with a couple months to go," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "For the most part, we played hard right until the end, win or lose. These guys are getting better and it's good to see."

Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 41st goal, and Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist for Toronto (35-13-7), which fell out of contention for the Presidents' Trophy.
The Maple Leafs extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-2) after Matthews tied it 3-3 with 2:40 remaining in the third period with a quick shot off a loose puck near the left hash marks.
"I thought he played really well tonight," Matthews said of Andersen. "I think at times we weren't good enough for him and we didn't really give him [a chance] on a couple of those. That's purely on us, but I thought he looked good, looked confident."
Toronto will finish first in the seven-team Scotia North Division and will play the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Zaitsev scored with a slap shot from the right boards through traffic to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 18:52 of the first period.
Muzzin one-timed a pass from Joe Thornton at the top of the slot on the power play to tie it 1-1 at 6:01 of the second period.
"No life. No energy," Muzzin said of the Maple Leafs' performance. "We hung in there, we battled. But not good enough to win."
After Andersen made the save on his shot on a shorthanded breakaway, Connor Brown jammed in a loose puck to make it 2-1 at 9:07.

It was Brown's 21st goal of the season, setting an NHL career high (20 goals for Toronto in 2016-17), and fifth shorthanded, the most in the NHL.
"I feel like I found a new level to my game the second half of this year," said Brown, who scored 20 points (15 goals, five assists) in the final 21 games.
Kelly scored from a sharp angle to make it 3-1 at 12:12 after Erik Brannstrom's point shot caromed off the boards.
"This is crazy," Kelly said. "I didn't think it'd go like this. I just feel very blessed to have gotten an opportunity. Thanks to all the people who believed in me and supported me all the way up."
John Tavares one-timed Willian Nylander's backhand pass from behind the net to cut it to 3-2 at 16:29 of the second.
NOTES:The Edmonton Oilers (No. 2 seed) will play the Winnipeg Jets (No. 3) in the other best-of-7 North Division first-round series. ... The Senators will be the only team in the NHL to not be shut out this season. … Ottawa forward Logan Brown played 9:40 in his season debut.