Ullmark stops 27, Senators blank Maple Leafs in Game 5 to stay alive again

Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for the Ottawa Senators, who avoided elimination for the second straight game with a 4-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

The shutout was Ullmark’s first in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his 15th career postseason start.

The Maple Leafs lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be in Ottawa on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, MAX).

Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle each had a goal and two assists for the Senators, who are the first wild card from the Eastern Conference.

Anthony Stolarz made 15 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are the first seed from the Atlantic Division and are 1-13 in their past 14 games where a win would have eliminated their opponent.

Ullmark stopped John Tavares on a breakaway at 4:46 of the first period to keep it scoreless. Chris Tanev then outmuscled Drake Batherson at the side of the net at 18:58 with the Senators on the power play, preventing him from tapping in a loose puck in the goal crease.

Toronto outshot Ottawa 12-4 in the first period.

Thomas Chabot gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the second period. After Stutzle won an offensive zone face-off against Auston Matthews, Chabot’s shot from the blue line deflected off Matthews in the slot past Stolarz’s blocker.

Ottawa maintained its lead at 15:27 when Ullmark stopped Mitch Marner’s shot from the slot.

Dylan Cozens made it 2-0 at 8:24 of the third period with a short-handed goal. Matthews attempted a pass from below the goal line to Marner at the point that was intercepted by Adam Gaudette, which led to his 2-on-1 pass in the slot to Cozens, who scored glove side.

Stutzle scored into an empty net at 17:09 to make it 3-0, and Tkachuk also scored an empty-net goal at 19:13 for the 4-0 final.