Fischer Drops Leafs

Forward Mike Fisher continues to make a solid case for himself when it comes to representing Canada at the February Olympics. This nine year Ottawa Senators veteran who is arguably the most underrated player in the league continues to get the job done every night for an inconsistent Senators team who come April will be fighting for a playoff spot. Though he’s not a superstar Fisher is the kind of solid two way player that can be a boost on the third or fourth line. On Tuesday night at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Battle of Ontario Fisher scored two goals in leading the Sens to a 3-2 win. “It was a physical game, back and forth and some good battles out there,” said Fisher who now has 16 points. “ Over the years these two teams have developed quite the heated rivalry and that was evident again as many Leaf fans were on hand in what was an enthusiastic crowd of 17,406 who witnessed four fights, lots of hitting and a variety of scoring chances by each team. With the win Ottawa who are now 9-6-3 registered their first win in three games while the Leafs fell into a tie with the Carolina Hurricanes for last place with the loss. ”It’s tough,” Leafs forward Matt Stajan said. “We’re definitely working hard and getting chances, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to score one more than the other team.” Along with Fisher also stepping up for Ottawa was goalie Pascal Leclaire who made 30 saves including 15 in the third period. “We liked our first 50 minutes of the game,” Senators coach Cory Clouston said. “We played our last 10 not to lose. We needed (Leclaire) and he was at his best..” Toronto who has now surrendered the opening goal in 17 of their first 19 games got their goals from Phil Kessel and Niklas Hagman. Besides for Fischer also scoring for Ottawa was Milan Michalek.