John Tavares remembers watching the knife-edged action as a young hockey player dreaming of the big stage.
Auston Matthews has seen the highlights and heard the stories.
The run-through-a-wall passion. The crackling atmosphere. The tension. The drama.
The Battle of Ontario was among hockey’s biggest rivalries for a time. The dormant dogfight is set to reignite anew.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators open their first-round NHL playoff series Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena, the first post-season meeting between the provincial opponents since those heated clashes more than two decades ago.
“Great battles,” Tavares said. “Great teams going at it.”
The veteran centre from just west of Toronto in Oakville, Ont., was on the edge of his seat supporting the team in blue and white as the Leafs beat the Senators four times in the playoffs between 2000 and 2004, including two Game 7 victories.
“The intensity was pretty unbelievable,” Tavares added.
Matthews, meanwhile, grew up in Arizona, but knows all about the history.
“The Battle of Ontario speaks for itself,” said the Leafs superstar captain. “It’s been a long time. Two very proud cities, proud franchises. We know what we’re in for.”
Toronto made the playoffs for a ninth straight campaign, but continues to search for just its second series victory in the NHL’s salary cap era. Ottawa, meanwhile, is back in the post-season for the first time since 2017 after finally emerging from a long and painful rebuild.
“Something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, a playoff freshman. “Only fitting it’s the Battle of Ontario.”
The Leafs enter the matchup as decided favourites after topping the Atlantic Division with firepower up front led by Matthews, Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
A remade defence corps with more bite than years past added Chris Tanev in the summer and Brandon Carlo at the trade deadline, while goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been lights out with eight straight wins to end the regular season.
“It’s gonna be a bloodbath,” Stolarz said of the series. “It’s gonna be a little bit of a war.”
Toronto hired Stanley Cup-winning head coach Craig Berube and his direct, north-south style in hopes of getting a talented group with a long list of spring flops over its playoff hump.
“It’s about us,” said Berube, who hoisted hockey’s holy grail with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “It really boils down to our team and the commitment and the battle we’ll need.”
The Senators, meanwhile, are a young group led by Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle up front, with veterans sprinkled throughout a lineup that grabbed the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.
The blue line is paced by budding star Jake Sanderson, but perhaps the biggest reason for the team’s playoff return is in goal, where Linus Ullmark steadied what had been the organization’s Achilles heel.
“We’re fired up,” Sanderson said. “We can do some damage.”
Ottawa head coach Travis Green, who like Berube is in his first season, has brought accountability and structure to the nation’s capital.
He also was part of the original Battle of Ontario in his playing days, including the infamous 2003 regular-season brawl at the height of hostilities that saw Leafs antagonist Darcy Tucker try to fight the Senators bench.
“It’s real,” Green said of the animosity. “There’s been a lot historical moments, historical series. It was very intense.
“It’s exciting for the province and exciting for the players.”
While the teams haven’t met in the Stanley Cup tournament in almost 7,700 days, there’s still been recent fireworks. Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly was suspended five games in February 2024 for a cross-check on Ridly Greig after the Senators centre took a slapshot into an empty net.
Toronto fans have also continued the tradition of descending on Ottawa’s home rink and painting the Canadian Tire Centre blue whenever the teams meet.
Leafs forward Scott Laughton, much like Tavares, grew up in the Toronto area and remembers the classic clashes.
He even brushed up on yesteryear’s grainy highlight pack earlier this week.
“My era of hockey,” said Laughton, another trade deadline acquisition. “And I thought it was the best era of hockey. It was amazing. Really excited to get going.”
SEASON SERIES
The Senators were a perfect 3-0-0 against the Leafs during the regular season, including road victories of 3-0 and 4-2.
LAST TIME OUT
Toronto and Ottawa last met in the playoffs on April 20, 2004 — Sunday’s series opener marks the 21st anniversary — when Senators netminder Patrick Lalime allowed two soft goals to Joe Nieuwendyk in Toronto’s 4-1 victory in Game 7.
BREAKOUT POTENTIAL
Matthew Knies: The 22-year-old winger, who finished the regular-season schedule with 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points, is a key piece on Toronto’s top line with Matthews and Marner.
Jake Sanderson: The 22-year-old blueliner registered 57 points (11 goals, 46 assists) in 2024-25. Sanderson quarterbacks Ottawa’s power play, makes a crisp first pass, and can skate his way out of trouble with breathtaking efficiency.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
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