The Battle of Ontario roared back to life Sunday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs dominated the Ottawa Senators 6-2 in a penalty-filled playoff opener that got pretty heated at the end.
It’s been a long time coming – these rivals haven’t met in the postseason since 2004, when the Leafs took that series in seven games.
The bad blood didn’t take long to resurface.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mitch Marner put Toronto up early with first-period goals, while Drake Batherson got one back for Ottawa.
Things really started getting chippy in the second period when Tim Stützle got called for boarding against Toronto’s Chris Tanev. The Leafs made them pay quick – John Tavares scored just nine seconds into the power play.
That was just the beginning of the penalty parade.
A controversial moment came when Ottawa’s Ridly Greig crosschecked Tavares in the neck. The refs initially called it a major penalty but dropped it to a two-minute minor after review.
By the final minute, things completely boiled over. The teams combined for 12 penalties in just 44 seconds – six each way. Ottawa picked up one final roughing call as the game ended.
"We’ve got to be more disciplined," Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said after the game, clearly frustrated with how things unfolded.
The question now is whether this was just playoff intensity or a sign of discipline issues that could plague Ottawa as the series continues. Game 2 should tell us a lot about which direction this rivalry is headed.
