Dion Phaneuf burns Toronto Maple Leafs by scoring on them (Video)

Dion Phaneuf doesn’t always score goals, but when he does, it usually comes against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Stay thirsty, my friends.

The Battle of Ontario is always a fierce rivalry, but it’s died down recently as both teams have gone through dry spells. With the Toronto Maple Leafs looking resurgent this year, there’s a lot at stake when these two get together.

The Ottawa Senators currently occupy the Atlantic Division’s final playoff spot, but the Leafs trail them by two points. Toronto could leapfrog them with a regulation win, and they certainly got off to a great start. After gaining a 2-0 lead early on in the second period, the Senators needed a spark. Needing the game’s next goal, none other than Dion Phaneuf decided to step up:

The Battle of Ontario should mean a lot to every player, but perhaps nobody gets up for it more than Phaneuf. He went from a valuable acquisition, and later captain, when he was traded to the Leafs to getting shipped out in a blockbuster deal in which the overriding feeling among Leafs fans was “good riddance.”

As stated before, Dion Phaneuf doesn’t always score goals. In his almost full season in a Senators uniform, this is only the seventh goal he’s ever scored. But this has to be the most memorable goal he’s scored with Ottawa so far, and if they end up winning, his teammates will be just as fired up as him.

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This is only the second time the Senators and Maple Leafs have faced off this season. The first time was when rookie sensation Auston Matthews scored four goals in his debut. The fact that it came in their home, and that everyone was talking about that instead of the fact that the Senators won, no doubt left them extremely pissed off. One way to rectify that moment is by having an old “flame” score against the Leafs.