Senators struggled with the Maple Leafs winning 6-2 in Game 1 – Hockey Writer – Toronto Maple Leafs

Ottawa Senators returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, playing for their old rival Toronto Maple Leafs in a highly anticipated battle in the Ontario showdown. The game didn’t disappoint, as the senators were ready to prove they wouldn’t be pushed, which brought several tense moments throughout the game. But the maple leaves remained unchanged for almost a full 60 minutes, leading to a 6-2 advantage victory, with Anthony Stolarz turning 33 shots.

Game review

The Senators were hot in the first stage, throwing as much weight as possible, but what Scott Laughton found Oliver Ekman-Larsson opens in the parking space was that the Maple Leafs opened up the first stage with a score of 7:09. Five minutes later, at 12:18, the Senator was caught in the wrong place again, leaving Mitch Marner out of the puck and slid the puck above Ullmark’s gloves, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead midway through the first. But with the end of the first phase, Dylan Cozens caught the puck and fired the net, and Drake Batherson first popped it out of the goalkeeper of Maple Leaf when Stolarz saved the save.

Sens strikes back! 😤

Drake Batherson cuts the lead from the leaves in half✂️ pic.twitter.com/kkheevcale

– SportsNet (@sportsnet) April 20, 2025

Ottawa led 13-5 to the second, but Toronto held control in large part, thanks to the Senators’ free throw trouble. Tim Stutzle was fined at 3:58 and John Tavares buried Maple Leaf’s third goal in nine seconds. Ridly Greig then evaluated five minutes of five minutes to cross-check Tavares, who demoted them to two minutes of minors after review. With Adam Gaudette’s weaker free throw against Auston Matthews, the Senators were better at killing the fine until they reached 5-on-3. This time, William Nylander only took three seconds to score 4-1.

Senators have been fighting for opportunities, almost averaged when Brady Tkachuk broke in early in the second phase, and later Batherson hit the post. But the maple leaves remain calm and collect, blocking the shooting when they appear and taking advantage of the opportunity.

The Maple Leafs began the third phase of the third phase, putting Ottawa on their heels again after Batherson was asked to take a controversial trip, but during this period they bounced over Greig’s efforts at 4:00, who delayed the fine for Toronto. However, the Maple Leafs sent the senators to the senators, with two more. Morgan Rielly shot Ullmark with Thomas Chabot’s arm, and Matthew Knies scored in a net free throw game in another powerful game in Toronto.

The remaining 45 seconds of frustration was attributed to a delayed penalty call, which assigned 20 minutes of free throws to 10 players. The game ended in 45 seconds, and Ottawa received another free throw when Nick Jensen dragged Pontus Holmberg to the ice as the buzzer rang. Although the two teams faced the last playoff showdown that day 21 years ago, a lot of blood still radiated between them.

Both teams will return to the game on April 22 (7:30 pm ET) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.