Leafs-Senators series preview.

 1A Toronto vs Ottawa 1WC

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog, so today we are looking at the 3rd Series that was locked in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, as we're going to be looking at a intriguing first round series between the two Ontario teams as for the first time in 20 year they go head to head, as the Leafs who won the Atlantic Division for the first time in their franchise history beating out Florida and Tampa and looking all year like one of the best teams in the East, take on Wildcard 1 in the East and that is the Senators who snapped a 8 year playoff drought and behind a outstanding defence and solid offense they have finally made it back to the post season.

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now when it comes to the history these two teams have in the playoffs it is actually rather short and also one sided, now the first time these two teams played in the postseason was at the turn of the Century back in 2000 where the Leafs were able to take the first meeting between the Ontario teams just 9 years after Ottawa’s inaugural season, and then the two sides would play 3 more times in the postseason in the next 4 years as they also played in 01, 02 and 04 and those 3 series also landed in the Leafs favour and the one in 04 would be the Leafs last playoff series win before they beat the Bolts back in 2023, so all in all it has been a while since we have seen the battle of Onatrio and Toronto has owned this series so we will see if Ottawa can finally beat the Leafs in the postseason.

Season Series Record: 

Toronto 0-3-0 3-9-6

Ottawa 3-0-0 9-3+6

Mark DesRosiers Imagn Images 

Each teams X-Factors: Tkachuk vs Stolarz

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and the most likely starter for the Maple Leafs after his solid play in season and that is Anthony Stolarz. Now i feel if either of these two teams are gonna win this series then these two players are gonna be a big part of their teams success, now in Toronto they have had different goalies start quite a bit over the past few playoff runs and I wouldn’t even rule out Woll starting the series for the Leafs, but Stolarz has had a phenomenal year for Toronto after backing the Stanley Cup Champs last year, he is in the top 5 of most goalie stats and has looked great and if he is the starter he will need to replicate those results if the Leafs want to win this series, meanwhile in Ottawa this is gonna be the 1st playoff series for quite a few players including captain Brady Tkachuk who has never tasted playoff action, now he is coming off a injury so if he is rusty for too long I don’t like the Sen’s chances, but if he comes out firing and plays like his brother has the past few years I like Ottawa’s chances of pulling out the victory.

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Offense: now if you look at the offenses for the Ontario teams, I feel they stack up quite well against each other as both teams have scary top end talent and a solid bottom six but because of how good their 3rd line is doing and the fact that they are a tad bit deeper up front, I am giving the offensive edge to the Sen’s, I think the top end players in Toronto may be a tiny bit more lethal then the top guys in Ottawa, Ottawa for sure has the more complete and well rounded forward group which is why I am giving them the advantage.

Nick Turchiaro

Defence: now on the defensive side I think these two are also pretty close as I do think Ottawa has the best defensemen here in Sanderson and do have some good complementary pieces like Zub and Jensen, but with a blueline that has been stellar with Benoit, McCabe and Tanev on it I am going to give the defensive edge to the Leafs as I think them being a more experienced team should help and give the the defensive advantage.

Goaltending: now in Net I think the advantage is quite obvious, now both Woll and Stolarz have been solid goalies for the Leafs this year and have really stabilized the nets backend, but I am not about to pick against Ullmark who although he has run into injury trouble this year, has been great when he got into game action and has been the goalie the Senators have needed for a while so I will give the Senators the edge in the crease.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Senators big players vs Leafs big players

Now when it comes to the biggest on ice match gol in my opinion, I feel like in this series it is which top end talent shots up the best, now as we know both teams have extremely lethal forward groups that can score on a dime and score big goals but I feel like the one who has more points will be the one who helps their squad move on, now for Toronto the big 4 always have solid regular seasons as they did this year, but they dry up in the playoffs (especially Marner and Tavares) so if this group can produce like they did in the offseason then I have no doubt the Leafs will win this series, while in Ottawa the offense has been off and on this year and hasn’t been consistent for long stretches but has the capabilities to go toe to toe with the Leafs and I feel like if Stutzle, Batherson and Tkachuk all have a really good series then this just might be the Sen’s to lose.

Predictions:

Now when it comes to my Predictions for the battle of Ontario, I must say I went back and forth on this one quite a bit as I feel this may be the year the Leafs finally go deep but on the other hand I am getting Florida vibes from this Sen’s team where they sneak into the postseason as a wildcard team and maybe go on a long run, so after much thought I am going to say the Senators will win this series in 7 games, now I just couldn’t bet against my 2nd favourite team and with them now having a sound defensive game and good starting goalie with a very deep forward group, I feel this team should have enough to topple their provincial rivals and I also feel that Toronto basically can’t win in game 7 so if this series does go the distance, I am going to definitely think the Sen’s can get it done and while I could see Toronto take this series, I am going to say Ottawa in 7 games.