Anthony Stolarz put it best.
Fresh off a shutout performance that clinched the Atlantic Division crown for Toronto and triggered the long-awaited return of the Battle of Ontario, the Maple Leafs netminder summed up the first-round bout to come aptly.
“It’s gonna be a bloodbath,” Stolarz said. “Gonna be a little bit of war. So, we’ll be ready.”
It’s been 21 years since the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators last crossed paths in the post-season. For a stretch two decades ago, it seemed a near-annual affair, the provincial rivals meeting four times between 2000–04, the likes of Tie Domi, Chris Neil, Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson, ensuring it was always appointment viewing.
“I grew up watching this series,” said Maple Leafs forward — and Kitchener, Ont., native — Steven Lorentz once the matchup was set. “I just remember being a little kid, having a mini-stick net right in front of the TV. And when there was a TV timeout or something like that, I just started firing the ball into the net. Now, to be able to do this, I still feel like I’m that eight-year-old kid watching on TV — but I get to sit on the bench for the big boys and go put my effort in out there.”
Since that last seven-game thriller in 2004, the two clubs have found themselves on different tracks. The Maple Leafs missed the post-season in 10 of 11 seasons following that series, while the Sens kept working their way up the ladder in the East, stitching together a Cup Final run in ’07. A decade later, in 2016-17, the organizations’ fortunes flipped. The Erik Karlsson-led Sens came within one win of the Stanley Cup Final, before falling into a playoff drought that’s endured for seven years — the Leafs, meanwhile, made their return to the dance with a rookie Auston Matthews at the helm, and have been in the mix every year since.
Now, after a decades-long wait, the two teams’ paths are set to finally converge — Toronto, nearly a decade into the high-flying Matthews Era, still hunting for meaningful playoff success after a run of seven first-round exits in eight years; and Ottawa, young and hungry, licking their chops for a chance to finally make some playoff noise once again, and to knock off their well-paid, much-discussed provincial rival.
