Battle of Ontario: Stars shine for Leafs in convincing Game 1 victory over Senators
CBC
Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs dumped the Ottawa Senators 6-2 to take Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
William Nylander and John Tavares, with a goal and an assist each, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 31 saves. Auston Matthews had two assists.
Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig replied for Ottawa, which got 18 stops from Linus Ullmark.
The best-of-seven matchup continues Tuesday with Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena before shifting to the nation's capital.
The series opener marked the first playoff Battle of Ontario showdown in exactly 21 years when Toronto bested Ottawa 4-1 in Game 7 on April 20, 2004.
The teams went in opposite directions after that, with Ottawa enjoying a long run of success, including a trip to the 2007 Stanley Cup final, while Toronto made the post-season just once between 2006 and 2016.
The Leafs, who downed the Senators four times in the playoffs across a five-year stretch in the early 2000s, returned to the NHL's spring dance in 2017 — the last time the Senators made the post-season — with a young core led by Matthews, Marner and Nylander.
The Senators' rebuild, meanwhile, took a lot longer than expected but finally gained traction in 2024-25. Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk made his playoff debut Sunday in his seventh campaign.
Toronto, which has one series victory in nine tries in the Matthews-Marner era, opened the scoring at 7:09 of the first period when Ekman-Larsson fired past Ullmark's glove to ignite the rink and send fans gathered outdoors in Maple Leaf Square into a frenzy.
Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson cleared a puck off his goal line later in the period, but Marner took a stretch pass from Matthews moments later and roofed a shot at 12:18 for a 2-0 lead.
Ottawa got on the board exactly four minutes later when Batherson was fastest to a rebound Stolarz was unable to smother.
The Leafs goaltender stopped Tkachuk on a breakaway early in the second before the Leafs' power play when to work when Tavares collected his own rebound at 4:07 to make it 3-1.
The Senators got in more penalty trouble later in the period, and Toronto struck three seconds into a two-man advantage when Nylander ripped his team's fourth goal on just 10 shots at 7:19.
Fabian Zetterlund had a great opportunity on an Ottawa power play late in the period, but Stolarz was there to keep the score at 4-1 through 40 minutes.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.