Leafs avoid typical playoff struggles in Game 1

New York Times

24-04-2025

After the Toronto Maple Leafs won Game 2 in OT, the series moves to Ottawa for Game 3 on Thursday
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Had you granted the Toronto Maple Leafs the ability to script their own opening scene to the Battle of Ontario, even they may not have come up with a night like Sunday that soothed so many old wounds.
For one pitch-perfect game, at least, the long-suffering denizens of Leafs Nation were treated to something that almost felt like playoff calm.
The stars peppered the scoresheet. The power play came roaring out of the gates against an undisciplined opponent. The best goaltender stood in the Toronto crease. And the Leafs comfortably won a series opener for just the third time in 10 tries during the Core Four era.
For 60 refreshing minutes, the team that's basically become a playoff punch line gave its loyal following a reason to believe. This was entirely different than what came before.
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Maple Leafs open Battle of Ontario with intriguing lack of past playoff woes
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Historically, teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-seven playoff series in the NHL go on to win the series 68 percent of the time.
That number jumps up to 86 percent for teams that go up 2-0 in best-of-seven series.
It's been 23 years since the last time the Maple Leafs led a playoff series 2-0, dating back to the first round of the 2002 playoffs against the Islanders.
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The Senators are 3-11 in playoff series all-time when losing Game 1. The last time Ottawa won a series after losing the first game was during the team's run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017, when it lost Game 1 to Boston in the first round before winning the series in six games.
As for the Maple Leafs, they actually lost the last series they started with a Game 1 win. That came in a seven-game series against the Lightning in the first round in 2022. The last time Toronto won Game 1 and then went on to win the series was in the first round in 2002 against the Islanders.
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Ridly Greig was a popular topic of conversation inside the Leafs dressing room between Games 1 and 2. His slide into Anthony Stolarz late in Sunday's series opener got the players' attention, as did his penalized cross-check to John Tavares' head and neck area.
Yesterday, Matthew Knies spoke out about Greig: "It's definitely annoying. I think we're going to play hard on him and not make it easy for him the rest of the way."
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Despite the protestations of Toronto coach Craig Berube, Ridly Greig has not faced any supplemental discipline after delivering a high cross-check to John Tavares during Game 1.
Sunday's game produced 52 minutes in penalties, but did not include any infractions the NHL's department of player safety believed rose to the level of a fine or suspension.
Greig was initially assessed a five-minute cross-checking major penalty after getting his stick up and striking Tavares in the neck or head area as the Leafs player finished a hit on him early in the second period. Following a video review, the referees reduced Greig's penalty to a two-minute cross-checking minor.
Berube held up five fingers on the bench during the penalty review, seemingly lobbying for Greig's cross-checking infraction to be a five-minute penalty. He later yelled, 'Call the league!' to reporters as he walked off the post-game podium after being asked about the sequence.
Ironically, Greig's father Mark skated in five playoff games alongside Berube with the Flyers in 1999 and 2000.
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Senators' Ridly Greig won't face suspension for cross-check: Source
Leafs coach Craig Berube on the Battle of Ontario: 'There's some hatred there, for sure.'
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They don't call it the Battle of Ontario for nothing. Things boiled over in the third period of Game 1 as the final seven minutes saw 12 roughing penalties and a whopping 42 penalty minutes handed out.
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While we're looking at the stars of the series: One box the Leafs don't always check, but did in Game 1? Their stars showed up. Getting multi-point nights from Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander is exactly what the Leafs needed.
Auston Matthews' excellent outlet pass from deep in his own zone on Marner's goal deserves some love, too. Add it up and the Leafs have the offensive weapons the Senators don't. Even if you make the argument that the two teams' blue lines are similarly matched (though that felt up for debate in Game 1), there's little doubt who has the star power. That star power has sometimes failed to rise to the moment for the Leafs. But Rielly's goal was the icing on the cake. The Senators had no answer for the Leafs' stars on Sunday.
All signs point to the Leafs dressing the following lineup in Game 2:
Knies — Matthews — Marner
Holmberg — Tavares — Nylander
McMann — Domi — Robertson
Lorentz — Laughton — Järnkrok
McCabe — Tanev
Rielly — Carlo
Benoit — Ekman-Larsson
Stolarz starting in goal
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Brady Tkachuk waited a long time to play under the playoff spotlight. But those who've anticipated his playoff debut were left wanting more.
The forward got shots on net and played physically at times, but didn't pop off at the level we expected him to be at. Tim Stützle outhit Tkachuk, even delivering the first big hit of the game.
Tkachuk had a prime opportunity to quiet the crowd with a breakaway opportunity in the second — as fans rained down chants of 'Brady sucks!' throughout the contest — but couldn't convert. It would've tied the game at two, but the Leafs eventually pulled away thanks to their special teams.
One big thing Brady has said learned watching his brother Matthew in the playoffs was the importance of moving on from one game to the next. He'll look to wash away a losing Game 1 effort.
The Senators are without forward Ridly Greig and defenceman Nick Jensen at the morning skate. Fabian Zetterlund has been bumped up to Greig's spot on the Shane Pinto line, with Nick Cousins coming into the fourth line. Travis Hamonic is in Jensen's usual spot alongside Thomas Chabot.
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If the Senators want a chance at upsetting the Leafs in the first round, Linus Ullmark will have to be the best goaltender in this series and erase any doubts stemming from previous playoff performances. Sunday's series opener proved to be one to forget.
Ullmark allowed six goals on 24 shots in the loss. The Senators' defence and penalty killing played a role in those goals, but Ullmark failed to come up big in contrast to Toronto's Anthony Stolarz. This game will only add to a shaky postseason record for the Sens' No. 1 netminder. Ullmark is now 3-7 all-time in playoff games dating back to his playoff debut three years ago with the Boston Bruins, with a save percentage below .900.
He has bounced back from regular-season struggles before. But the Senators need him to snap back to form immediately. Relying on Anton Forsberg or Leevi Merilainen would be rolls of the dice at this stage of the season.
Stolarz, by comparison, looked like the goalie who finished the regular season with a remarkable .926 save percentage. Though he bobbled a few shots from distance with his glove, Stolarz still moved well and commanded his net. He stopped 31 shots. That kind of composure could end up being another difference, not just between the Leafs and the Senators but between this Leafs team and past iterations.
Winning the goaltending battle isn't something the Leafs do often in playoff series. So far, so good this time around.
Referees Gord Dwyer and Patrick Lambert have been assigned Game 2 of the Leafs-Senators series. It is the first game either official has worked during these Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Total Maple Leafs power play goals through seven playoff games last year: one. Total Leafs power play goals through two periods against the Senators in Game 1: two.
For all the concern about how the Senators might draw plenty of penalties, they ended up spending an unnecessarily large amount of time in the box. And the Leafs made them pay. Their puck movement with the man advantage was especially creative and swift. When they needed to be, the Leafs looked patient with the puck on the power play. John Tavares and William Nylander each converted with their first goals of the series.
The Senators ended the regular season with the 19th-best penalty kill and needed to be disciplined entering the series against a potent power play. A Tim Stützle second-period infraction kickstarted a flurry of minor penalties, including a Ridly Greig cross-check that was downgraded from five minutes to two.
Fans can debate the validity of those penalties all day, and they may have a point. But the Sens clearly weren't prepared for the Leafs' quick strikes. A third-period power-play goal by Matthew Knies was the final nail in the coffin.
Since Jan. 1, only the Vegas Golden Knights have had a better power play than the Leafs. Game 1 was a continuation of that effectiveness, highlighted by the aforementioned Knies goal and how quickly it came.
Remember, this is a Leafs team that has struggled on the power play in the playoffs. It's literally been the difference between a series win and loss for this core at times. But against the Senators, the Leafs' punchy power play could be a sign of good things to come.
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The Senators were rendered mostly ineffective in high-danger areas. The Sens outshot the Leafs 13-5 in the first period, but only mustered one high-danger chance, according to Natural Stat Trick. Ottawa ended the game with 11, but it still wasn't a strong suit for the visitors.
The Leafs' defence kept them along the perimeter and wouldn't let them trouble Anthony Stolarz until Drake Batherson scored his team's first goal of the game with just under four minutes remaining in the first. After that, the Sens continued to struggle with penetrating the middle of the ice.
Brady Tkachuk is considered an X-factor in this series because of his ability to create havoc in the corners and in front of the net. Through the opening 20 minutes, Tkachuk had three shots on net — two from the blue line and one from the face-off circle. That's not sufficient for a Senators team that has struggled with generating goals from up close. They ended the regular season with the 25th-best high-danger goals for rate.
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For all that the Leafs can be accused of not always starting on time and not bringing their best in the opening game of the playoffs, they did nearly everything right off the hop. Up and down the lineup, they checked hard. They put their bodies in front of Senators shots. They played with energy and got traffic in front of Linus Ullmark.
And crucially, they made the most of their opportunities, scoring twice on four shots. Oliver Ekman-Larsson didn't look like a defenceman labouring through any lingering injuries with his series-opening goal.
And Mitch Marner didn't look like a player with the weight of the world on his shoulders with his electric breakaway goal.
With how heavily favoured the Leafs were coming into this series, it remained a possibility that the internal pressure would lead to some tightened grips on the Leafs' sticks. That wasn't the case. The Leafs were all over the Senators from the hop. And they didn't let up, either.
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A generation after it began, the Battle of Ontario reignited in Game 1 between the Maple Leafs and Senators. And just as it went back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Leafs got the better of the Senators.
The Leafs' dominant 6-2 win marked just the third time this Leafs core has won a series opener in 10 tries. And that's fitting: this team looked quite different from recent iterations come playoff time. They stifled the Senators, whose lack of playoff experience showed up in taking needless penalties.
Of course, there's plenty of hockey left in this matchup. But if Game 1 is any indication, this has the potential to be a short one.
Getty Images Game 1: Maple Leafs won 6-2
Maple Leafs won 6-2 Game 2: Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Toronto
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Toronto Game 3: Thursday at 7 p.m. in Ottawa
Thursday at 7 p.m. in Ottawa Game 4: Saturday at 7 p.m. in Ottawa
Saturday at 7 p.m. in Ottawa Game 5: Tuesday Apr. 29 in Toronto (if necessary)
Tuesday Apr. 29 in Toronto (if necessary) Game 6: Thursday May 1 in Ottawa (if necessary)
Thursday May 1 in Ottawa (if necessary) Game 7: Saturday May 3 in Toronto (if necessary)
All times ET
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Will the Maple Leafs keep rolling tonight, or will the Senators find a way to even the series?
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