They traded blowouts. They traded punches. Then they traded barbs.
In a roiling cauldron of a hockey game, from which the body count is not yet complete, the Maple Leafs and Senators took their rivalry to new heights of anger and vindictiveness.
The Leafs crushed the visitors from the capital 5-1 last night, turning the tables on the 7-1 embarrassment they endured when these teams met here just over three weeks ago.
But the lopsided score, one that gave Toronto a three-point bulge over Ottawa atop the Northeast Division, the brilliant work of the Leafs' special teams and the dazzling goaltending of Ed Belfour were almost forgotten in the aftermath of this emotional showdown, in which both teams lost a key player to injury.
Toronto's Joe Nieuwendyk was bounced with a rib/back injury after being crosschecked, front and back, at the same time by Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara. Ottawa's Jason Spezza left with an injured leg when he was pounded into the boards by Owen Nolan. There is no time frame yet for the return of either but if there is cartilage damage around Nieuwendyk's ribs, as is the concern, he could be out for an extended stretch.
In the dressing rooms there were accusations of butt ends, gouging (and they weren't referring to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment), spearing, kneeing and just about every other awful thing one hockey player can do to another. That nicely sets the stage for the heavyweight rematch when these two teams renew acquaintances in Ottawa Thursday.
The vitriol even spilled out into the hallway under the stands as the teams left the ice, with some of the Senators screaming at Leaf tough guy Nathan Perrott and suggesting, profanely, that he "won't last the season."
When Pat Quinn was asked if it's fair to say these teams genuinely hated each other, the Leafs coach said he "couldn't disagree with that one bit."
Meanwhile, Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was booed every time he touched the puck, said what Tie Domi did at the end of the game was "an embarrassment to league." With 25 seconds remaining, Domi jumped Ottawa's Shaun Van Allen and punched him in the half-visor that was protecting his broken jaw.
"He knows Van Allen has a guard for his mouth and he goes after him and sucker-punches him. It was totally embarrassing," Alfredsson said.
Domi, wearing a shield himself, was given an unsportsmanlike penalty for starting a fight while wearing a visor and a 10-minute misconduct. He also received a game misconduct for being the aggressor in a fight. Even though this was his third game misconduct of the season, Domi will not be automatically suspended for a game because all three must come under one category. The other two were for instigating a fight.
Maple Leafs tough guy Tie Domi lands a vicious left to the head of Ottawa's Shane Hnidy during the first period of last night's game.
When apprised of Alfredsson's comments, Quinn was not amused.
"He's the guy that tried to take Mats (Sundin's) knee out with that hit at the end. He's the guy that hit (Darcy) Tucker from behind two years ago and should have been suspended for life probably so I don't give it much validity," said the coach.
On the ice, the Leafs got a spectacular performance from their penalty killers, who shut down the league's best power-play unit 13 out of 14 times. The only goal they gave up came when they were two men down. Meanwhile, Toronto's power play came into this game on a 0-for-25 streak over the last six games but produced four goals with the extra man last night.
Leading the attack was Sundin, who had a goal and two assists. Gary Roberts had two goals while Robert Reichel and Ponikarovsky had singles.
It was a historic night for Quinn and Belfour. Quinn won his 600th career game, just the fourth NHL coach to achieve that, while Belfour earned his 424th career win to pass Tony Esposito for fourth all-time.
