Senators vs Maple Leafs04.24.25
Ottawa, ON
May 25, 2017. Eastern conference finals, game seven. Chris Kunitz drives a double overtime dagger through the hearts of Senators fans nationwide. Little did we know, we would have to wait eight long years to see playoff hockey back in the nation's capital. But here we are, after having lived what feels like a lifetime. Not just from the Senators' perspective, where the team has seen beloved players sent packing amidst a revolving door of coaching, management, and ownership, but league wide as well, with new franchises spawning in Las Vegas and Seattle, and the bubble playoffs seeming like a distant memory.
This new Ottawa Senators core — on the ice and in the front office — has taken its lumps, but has finally put together a regular season strong enough to earn a playoff berth. And not just any playoff berth, but a first round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I only have vague memories of the last playoff Battle of Ontario, twenty one years ago, being only five years old at the time, but I knew I had to be in the Canadian Tire Centre for this one.
Ticket sales for these games in Ottawa were a total gongshow, with season ticket holders getting primary access and only a limited number of tickets being made available to the general public. I didn't want to wait that long to secure my tickets, so I scored my tickets through StubHub, shortly before it was confirmed that the Senators would be facing the Leafs. It only became more of a dogfight to get tickets once the matchup was confirmed, with ticket prices in Ottawa actually eclipsing those in Toronto. Sheer insanity, but goes to show just how starved us Sens fans have been for playoff hockey.
This was game three, the first at home, after the Sens dropped games one and two in Toronto. Game one being a blowout reeking of inexperience, and game two a tightly contested affair that saw the Sens lose in overtime. But here in game three, with the hometown crowd totally locked in, the atmosphere prior to puck drop was absolutely electric. Easily the loudest I've heard our home barn since game three against the Penguins in 2017. Craig Anderson came out to ring the bell, the crowd erupting in chants of "Andy! Andy! Andy!" before he started a "Pageau! Pageau! Pageau!" chant himself. The Canadian anthem roared, the passion cranked up tenfold in these uncertain times.
I'm so glad to report that the ratio of Sens to Leafs fans was heavily in favour of the Sens. I would estimate it was about a 90-10 split, much better than what it typically is when the Leafs visit in the regular season.
After a scoreless first period, the Senators broke the goose egg with a power play goal from Claude Giroux. Matthew Knies tied it up later in the second, the Leafs continuing their total domination with their power play this series.
Auston Matthews scored just over thirty seconds into the third period, giving the Leafs fans a 2-1 lead. The crowd felt understandably nervous, but later in the period, our captain Brady Tkachuk came through with what I would call our first stroke of good luck this entire series, a bit of a long range shot that found its way past Anthony Stolarz.
And off to overtime we went. Rally towels waving, the crowd roaring. But all it took was an offensive zone faceoff win for the Leafs, merely a minute or so into overtime, for noted sniper Simon Benoit to loft a point shot past Linus Ullmark. Genuinely heartbreaking, leaving the crowd stunned and speechless.
The demons of the Battle of Ontario still feel very much alive, and I can only hope this era of Senators hockey can exorcise them. Obviously it's not a great spot to be in, down 3-0 in the series, but I still have all the faith in the world in this team, whether that be for showing a bit of heart and pride in the remaining games of these playoffs, or for the coming seasons as we enter the prime years of our young core. No doubt, this is a team on the rise, and I will be with them every step of the way.
