Domi scores in OT, Maple Leafs top Senators 3-2 to grab 2-0 lead in Battle of Ontario

TORONTO (AP) — Max Domi scored at 3:09 of overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs survived a blown 2-0 lead to defeat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 and go up 2-0 in their first-round playoff series Tuesday night.

The winger moved into the offensive zone in the extra period and ripped his first of the post-season upstairs past Linus Ullmark.

“Unreal,” Leafs centre John Tavares said. “Great for him, great for our team.”

Tavares, with a goal and an assist, and Morgan Rielly provided the rest of the offense for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.

“Just pure jubilation,” Stolarz said of Domi’s winner that set off wild celebrations inside and outside Scotiabank Arena. “He’s a hell of a teammate in the room, and to see someone like that get rewarded, hopefully it’s the start of something big.”

Brady Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette scored for Ottawa. Ullmark stopped 18 shots.

The best-of-seven Battle of Ontario now shifts to the nation’s capital for Games 3 and 4 beginning Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

The Leafs, who took Sunday’s opener 6-2, lead a post-season series 2-0 for the first time since 2002.

In the playoffs for the first time in eight years following a long rebuild, the Senators limp home looking for answers.

“We’re looking forward to getting home,” Tkachuk said. “And honestly, there’s not one ounce of panic.”

Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five postseason matchups in the early 2000s, is 10-0 all-time in series where the club wins the first two games at home, and has a two-game playoff edge for just the second time in 10 tries across the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era.

After scoring three quick-strike goals on the man advantage in Game 1 against an inexperienced and undisciplined opponent, Toronto capitalized 18 seconds into its first opportunity when Tavares sent a puck into the crease that deflected in off Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen on the home side’s fourth shot at 8:20.

Stolarz decked Senators forward Ridly Greig, who slid into the netminder late in Game 1, at the end of an Ottawa power play in the second on a sequence that resulted in coincidental minor penalties.

The series marks the first time in NHL history two Canadian teams with U.S.-born captains — Ottawa’s Tkachuk and Toronto’s Matthews — have met in the playoffs.

Leafs head coach Craig Berube, who won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and has been handed the reins of an organization looking to end decades of playoff misery, was asked pregame about his initial thoughts on the Battle of Ontario.

“There’s some hatred there, for sure,” the former NHL tough guy from Alberta said with a grin. “It’s pretty good. I enjoy it.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Ottawa Senators Brady Tkachuk (7) takes a shot on net against Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) during first period of NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Matthew Knies (23) falls on a wraparound attempt against Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during first period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Referees break up a fight between Toronto Maple Leafs' Scott Laughton (24) and Ottawa Senators' Claude Giroux (28) during first period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Senators' Drake Batherson (19) and Toronto Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly (44) collide along the boards during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs fans cheer as they take on the Ottawa Senators during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) tips a puck toward Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) while being defended by Ottawa Senators' Artem Zub (2) during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) looks toward the referee after receiving an interference penalty against Ottawa Senators' Ridly Greig (71) during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Senators' Dylan Cozens (24) takes a shot on Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) while being defended by Toronto Maple Leafs' Simon Benoit (2) during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Pontus Holmberg (29) and Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot (72) battle for the puck during second period NHL playoff action in Toronto, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) tries to make a shot on Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) with pressure from Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot (72) during third period NHL playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate the overtime win during NHL playoff action in Toronto, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Demonstrations broke out in Iran on Dec. 28 and have spread nationwide as protesters vent their increasing discontent over the Islamic Republic's faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands arrested as the daily protests have grown and the government seeks to contain them. While the initial focus had been on issues like spikes in the prices of food staples and the country's staggering annual inflation rate, protesters have now begun chanting anti-government statements as well.

Here is how the protests developed:

Dec. 28: Protests break out in two major markets in downtown Tehran, after the Iranian rial plunged to 1.42 million to the U.S. dollar, a new record low, compounding inflationary pressure and pushing up the prices of food and other daily necessities. The government had raised prices for nationally subsidized gasoline in early December, increasing discontent.

Dec. 29: Central Bank head Mohammad Reza Farzin resigns as the protests in Tehran spread to other cities. Police fire tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital.

Dec. 30: As protests spread to include more cities as well as several university campuses, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with a group of business leaders to listen to their demands and pledges his administration will “not spare any effort for solving problems” with the economy.

Dec. 31: Iran appoints Abdolnasser Hemmati as the countrys new central bank governor. Officials in southern Iran say that protests in the city of Fasa turned violent after crowds broke into the governor's office and injured police officers.

Jan. 1: The protests' first fatalities are officially reported, with authorities saying at least seven people have been killed. The most intense violence appears to be in Azna, a city in Iran’s Lorestan province, where videos posted online purport to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!” The semiofficial Fars news agency reports three people were killed. Other protesters are reported killed in Bakhtiari and Isfahan provinces while a 21-year-old volunteer in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force was killed in Lorestan.

Jan. 2: U.S. President Donald Trump raises the stakes, writing on his Truth Social platform that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” The warning, only months after American forces bombed Iranian nuclear sites, includes the assertion, without elaboration, that: “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.” Protests, meantime, expand to reach more than 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Jan. 3: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says “rioters must be put in their place,” in what is seen as a green light for security forces to begin more aggressively putting down the demonstrations. Protests expand to more than 170 locations in 25 provinces, with at least 15 people killed and 580 arrested, HRANA reports.

Jan. 6: Protesters conduct a sit-in at Tehran's Grand Bazaar until security forces disperse them using tear gas. The death toll rises to 36, including two members of Iranian security forces, according to HRANA. Demonstrations have reached over 280 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Jan. 8 to 9: Following a call from Iran's exiled crown prince, a mass of people shout from their windows and take to the streets in an overnight protest. The government responds by blocking the internet and international telephone calls, in a bid to cut off the country of 85 million from outside influence. HRANA says violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 42 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained.

Rising reported from Bangkok

FILE - Protesters march on a bridge in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP, File)