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Leaf’s goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made 23 saves against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. (Canadian Press/Pawel Dwulit)

Phil Kessel scored the winning goal and Jonas Gustavsson shut the door on Jason Spezza to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

While the provincial rivalry has lost some of its bitterness over the last couple of years, the two teams more than made up for that on this night.

The game was slow to get started as neither team seemed to make any momentum, but a hit by the Senators’ Chris Neil on John Mitchell at the 14-minute mark seemed to spark both teams. Mitchell left the game and didn’t return.

From that point on, tempers grew small and scrums broke out after nearly every whistle.

The Senators managed to come out on top after one of those scrums with a power play and made the most of it as Neil scored on a Jason Spezza rebound to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.

Already down a player, the Leafs then lost the services of Fredrik Sjostrom early in the second as he injured his left arm. The Senators gained a body as Zack Smith arrived from Binghamton in time to start the second.

The Leafs tied the game 1-1 at 6:50 of the second period when Kessel’s wrist shot flew past Pascal Leclaire’s stick side.

Solid in 3rd

Leclaire, who hadn’t played a full 60 minutes since Jan. 10, was solid for the Senators in the third as the Leafs had three power-play opportunities, including a 24-second two-man advantage.

Toronto was 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

Ottawa was in need of a strong showing by Leclaire as the Senators were without captain Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin, the latest victims of a flu bug making its way through the team.

A number of players had been struck by the illness, but managed to play their way through it, although some were forced to leave the bench during play.

Gustavsson stopped 22 shots in his first start since playing for Sweden during the Olympics

The Leafs (20-32-12), who were coming off a shootout loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, are 1-2 since returning from the Olympic break.

New Brunswick skip James Grattan is off to a 2-0 start at the Brier in Halifax. (Mike Dembeck/Canadian Press)

James Grattan’s New Brunswick rink is making some noise after a silent start, going 2-0 on the opening day at the Tim Hortons Brier curling championship in Halifax.

Grattan jumped out to an early lead in the second draw against Northwest Territories/Yukon skip Jamie Koe, scoring three in the first end en route to a 10-3 victory.

“I like the underdog role,” New Brunswick third Steven Howard said. “The boys are playing fantastic. James is making everything and it’s just an honour to be out here with them.”

Looking down on the ice, Russ Howard, who holds the record for the most Brier appearances with 14, said his son’s rink was pretty solid for a team that doesn’t play much.

“You don’t see them on the tour. They’re certainly under the radar,” the elder Howard said, who had to step back from competitive play this year because of commitments as a broadcast analyst.

“But they’ve got all the talent in the world. They got three in the first end both games.”

Earlier in the day, Grattan forced Ian Fitzner LeBlanc’s Nova Scotia rink to shake hands in the ninth with an 8-6 win.

Ontario’s Glenn Howard place Serge Reid’s Quebec foursome away with three in the eighth end to win 8-3.

The Ontario skip laughed when told he was surrounded by family, noting his son was also in the stands.

“It’s absolutely surreal to reckon the Howards are watching and playing and commentating. It’s a really clean feeling,” he said of his 12th Brier appearance.

Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton, a two-time Brier winner, dropped his second game to Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs 8-5 after beating B.C. 8-7 in an extra-end nail-biter earlier in the day.

In other second-draw action, Saskatchewan’s Darrell McKee edged P.E.I.’s Rod MacDonald 7-6.

It remains unclear if Alexander Ovechkin will get a chance to face Sidney Crosby on Russian ice at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Matt Slocum/Associated Press)

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman could be dangling the prospect of Olympic participation as a way to gain leverage in future negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, CBC Hockey Night in Canada contributor Pierre LeBrun told the Hotstove segment on Saturday night.

Bettman has so far remained noncommittal on the thought of having NHL players compete in the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.

With $2.1 billion US in player salaries at stake at the recent Vancouver Olympics — much of it uninsured — there is plenty for Bettman to lose.

“This notion that the NHL gets nothing isn’t quite right,” HNIC host Ron MacLean said. “They did get that publicity.”

And, MacLean added, NHL players are all developed through programs run in their home countries, something the NHL doesn’t have to pay for.

There are reports that the International Olympic Committee made about $30 million US from the Vancouver hockey tournament. LeBrun suggested the NHL, NBA and FIFA should band together and threaten to pull out of future Games unless the IOC starts to share some of the profits.

“He’s playing his cards right,” LeBrun said of Bettman. “Why announce something now, when you could get something out of the IOC or the NHLPA?”

Quid pro quo

The current contract between the league at its players’ union expires in September 2011. When negotiating a new agreement, Bettman could question the players for something in return if he allows them to participate in the Sochi Olympics.

But that strategy could also work against Bettman and the 30 owners.

“It’s the league that should be giving the players something,” HNIC analyst Glenn Healy said. The players could just as easily demand that the owners drop the salary cap, if they take away their opportunity to play for their countries on the world’s largest stage.

The Hotstove segment started with an archived clip of Bettman, just prior to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, saying it doesn’t matter who plays in the gold-medal game — and that the result would have no bearing on future participation in the Games.

The Canada-U.S. matchup this year was a ratings bonanza for U.S. television. Last Sunday’s gold-medal matchup in Vancouver drew record audiences on both sides of the border and was the most-watched hockey game in the U.S. since 1980.

But the NHL is having distress capitalizing on all the positive marketing scenarios. For example, the IOC rules didn’t allow enough time to adequately promote the players on each team, Healy said.

Broadcast restrictions are another major issue.

“I’d like to see the Crosby goal [again]. But there are so many regulations about showing that goal. The NHL can’t even bring [Crosby] into New York and show the goal while they do an interview with him. The IOC [is] not about fairness, and it’s time for them to buck up.”

Milbury added: “The IOC is about as arrogant as it gets.”

While the Olympics appear to still be fresh on the minds of most hockey fans, another issue is about to rear its hideous head again. That, of course, is the debate on what to do about head shots.

NHL general managers will tackle this problem during their three days of meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., starting on Monday.

Toronto’s Brian Burke and Carolina’s Jim Rutherford are among eight GMs who will present a case calling for the NHL to make blind-side hits to the head illegal, just as the Ontario Hockey League and the IIHF have done.