The Battle of Ontario opens its 2025 playoff chapter tonight in Toronto (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC).

We’ve done all the talking:

It’s game time.

Game Day Quotes

Travis Green on whether the intense pressure on the Leafs to win can be an advantage for the Senators: 

I am not sure, to be honest. You can’t speak for another team or to what pressure does to people.

I don’t think it is a secret that we are the underdogs going into the series. They have a very good team that is trying to win a Stanley Cup. There are a lot of good teams that have pressure.

Do we hope it is an advantage for us? Sure, but until you play the games, you don’t know.

Green on the challenge of keeping the Leafs‘ star forwards quiet: 

You are talking about elite players in the NHL. When you talk about the top players in the league, those names come up a lot. We are going to have our hands full. We are going to have to check well and be aware when they are on the ice.

It is not something new that we’re talking about because we are in the playoffs. We talk about it every time. Every time the Leafs play, they are being spoken about in the other team’s room.

Green on whether his team is embracing an underdog mentality: 

We don’t talk about it much in the room. With the way the media is today, you don’t have to. It is no secret that most of you in the room probably picked Toronto to beat us.

In saying that, we have a lot of inner belief in our group. We still have to play the games.

Green on the biggest challenge presented by the Leafs: 

They are well-coached. I know Chief, and he has done a good job with his coaching.

You are talking about a team that finished first and won its division. They have a lot of areas you need to be worried about.

It is not just the scoring, which everyone knows about, but they can defend well, and their goalie has played remarkably this year.

Green on inserting Matthew Highmore on the Senators’ fourth line: 

He is a big part of our penalty kill. He is fast. We can move him up and down the lineup.

Especially on the road where they have last change, it is important to have guys who can move around a little bit, as far as certain matchups you are trying to get on the road.

Brady Tkachuk ahead of his first-ever NHL playoff game: 

It has been a long time coming. All of those times in the driveway or playing mini-sticks, you’re thinking of scoring a winner in the Stanley Cup playoffs in a big game. To finally be here is surreal.

Craig Berube on the Senators’ strengths as a team:

I think they checked really well this year, in my opinion. Their structure is excellent. They have a good identity of how they want to play the game. They go to the net hard and are around the net hard. They are a physical team that challenges you in all zones very well. They are going to confront you.

They have some great players with skill — two on the backend, and a number of them up front. You are not going to get any easy ice against them. None. It is going to be a battle.

Chris Tanev on the importance of playoff experience in this matchup:

They are going to be ready to go and will work extremely hard. I don’t think experience is going to matter much tonight. I know their coach well. I know they are going to be ready to play, check, and play extremely hard.

Tanev on the challenge of handling Brady Tkachuk: 

We know he is a big body. He is going to be at the net and is going to play physical. We need to match his intensity and stay disciplined.

You see how many penalties were called last night, and there were a lot of power-play goals. Power plays are so good in the game right now. If you give a team three, four, or five looks on the power play, it is going to end up in the back of the net at some point.

Tanev on the return of his partner, Jake McCabe: 

Jake has been great all year. I have enjoyed playing with him for the majority of the year. We get along extremely well. We see the game very similarly. We are able to bounce thoughts off of each other in real time and make adjustments.

He personifies a lot of how we want to play. The leadership and mentality he brings are extremely important.

Tanev on the benefits of having a head coach who has won a Cup behind the bench: 

He knows what it takes to get the job done. It is a long grind. Shift by shift, there are so many emotions throughout periods and games, let alone series. We are just going to do our best to stay composed and stick to the process that has gotten us to where we are right now.

Brandon Carlo on the Leafs‘ defensive play entering the playoffs:

From the standpoint of the whole defensive play of the entire team, if everyone is working hard coming back into the zone, it allows us to have good gaps and to move the puck up into the forwards’ hands, which is exactly what we want to do with the skill we have up there.

There is a commitment level to blocking shots, and you see it from everybody. I think Mo had seven blocks the other night. [Tanev] broke the record this year for shot blocks. Guys are committed to laying their bodies on the line.

Carlo on playing for the coach that beat him in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final:

It has been good to gain a different perspective. Before that, I only had the image of him in TD Garden beating us. There is a reason why it happened, and I think he is a big part of it.

I have loved his coaching so far, with the way he is so relatable and able to communicate. I really enjoy being around Chief.

Maple Leafs vs. Senators: Regular Season Statistics

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#11 Max Domi — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton — #19 Calle Jarnkrok

Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll

Extras: David Kampf, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves, Philippe Myers, Dakota Mermis, Artur Akhtyamov, Jani Hakanpaa

Ottawa Senators Projected Lines

Forwards
#7 Brady Tkachuk — #18 Tim Stutzle — #28 Claude Giroux
#57 David Perron — #24 Dylan Cozens — #19 Drake Batherson
#71 Ridly Greig — #12 Shane Pinto — #22 Michael Amadio
#15 Matthew Highmore — #81 Adam Gaudette — #20 Fabian Zetterlund

Defensemen
#85 Jake Sanderson — #2 Artem Zub
#72 Thomas Chabot — #3 Nick Jensen
#43 Tyler Kleven — #33 Nikolas Mattinpalo

Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Linus Ullmark
#31 Anton Forsberg

Extras: Nick Cousins, Hayden Hodgson, Dennis Gilbert, Travis Hamonic, Leevi Merilainen

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