Lots missing from vanishing Maple Leafs as Senators kick butt on Bay St.

From morning till night, the Maple Leafs were engaged in a strange disappearing act.

First it was Auston Matthews, absent from the Friday morning skate with what turned out to be a knee strain that will sideline him three weeks. Then goalie Matt Murray, who led them out for the game against Ottawa, was on the bench for O Canada with an apparent injury.

The Senators scored early and often on Ilya Samsonov and were all over early Leaf miscues and departed Scotiabank Arena 6-2 winners, Samsonov’s first regulation defeat on Bay St. this season. Coach Sheldon Keefe observed pre-game “it seems we always get the best version of Ottawa” in the Battle of Ontario and he was right on.

The visitors earned their goals with more determination, though loose Leafs play helped. While there’s understated pride in their record when Matthews is hurt or suspended, 31-16-2 entering Friday, the Leafs certainly could’ve used some of his 41 career points versus the Sens, 23 of them goals.

For Murray, it’s the second time he’d been removed before a game against his previous team, a groin injury in the morning skate Oct. 15, a game Samsonov won. If it was an illness that flared up, Murray wouldn’t likely have stayed on the bench as he did Friday, but coach Keefe was not addressing the sudden switch of stoppers until after.

Keefe had been adamant Samsonov needed a break after the schedule got crammed, though he was a sparkling 14-0-1 at home. Ottawa won at SBA in front of fans for the first time in more than four years, countering a 23-point difference in divisional standings.

Samsonov was beaten on Ottawa’s first look during 4-on-4 action after Michael Bunting and Brady Tkachuk were penalized after an opening shift scrum. Forward Tim Stuzle and defenceman Thomas Chabot worked their way to open ice and Chabot’s eighth goal.

The Matthews’ machinations with new lines meant John Tavares at centre between Mitch Marner and Bunting, while Pontus Holmberg moved up with William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok.

“(Matthews) will be missed, but we’re all going to respond really well,” Bunting said in the morning.

“On the power play, we want to build momentum for our team even when we don’t score. There are still a lot of exceptional players on that power play so I think we’ll be all right.

“Johnny’s playing really good hockey and been doing it a long time, but playing with him, I have to get open, I know he likes going to the corners and the net and play a strong game. I know Mitchy and I will complement him.”

But Bunting’s penalty, then a double minor to Holmberg for high sticking, disrupted plans.

It was Toronto’s fourth line which tied it 1-1, a Joey Anderson shot off of Alex DeBrincat’s stick finding the top corner on Anton Forsberg.

The normally reliable David Kampf line turned the puck over on a first minute breakout in the second period that Tkachuk eventually tipped past Samsonov. The new top group finally clicked on the power play, Nylander tapping in a Tavares rebound. Marner’s 40^th assist gave him seven seasons with that many, with only Darryl Sittler attaining more over nine years, while Marner equalled Borje Salming.

But Holmberg took his third minor of the night, equalling his 30-game season high, during which Derick Brassard put a perfect deflection into the blue paint that Timothy Liljegren inadvertently knocked in. The Kampf line got knocked off the puck again late in the frame, this time Drake Batherson with a great look for a goal. Tkachuk nailed the top corner on a third-period screen and Claude Giroux closed it.

Murray was hoping to get back on the horse after being pulled Jan. 17 against Florida when the Leafs rallied to win. Before that hiccup, his record of 11-5-2 was one more win than his best of two seasons with the Sens. In 2021-22 he was injured, won just five of 20 games and was demoted at one stage. He signed a multi-year deal with the Leafs where he had ties to Keefe and general manager Kyle Dubas.

The Leafs are now 2-1 on a five-game homestand, with Washington here Sunday afternoon, which will be  Tavares’s 1,000^th NHL game, then it’s their final pre NHL all-star break appearance versus Boston on Wednesday.

lhornby@postmedia.com