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The Battle of Ontario continues tonight as the Maple Leafs and Senators square off in Game 2. Toronto leads the first-round playoff series 1-0 after winning 6-2 on Sunday.
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The Senators were rendered mostly ineffective in high-danger areas. The Sens outshot the Leafs 13-5 in the first period, but only mustered one high-danger chance, according to Natural Stat Trick. Ottawa ended the game with 11, but it still wasn’t a strong suit for the visitors.
The Leafs’ defence kept them along the perimeter and wouldn’t let them trouble Anthony Stolarz until Drake Batherson scored his team’s first goal of the game with just under four minutes remaining in the first. After that, the Sens continued to struggle with penetrating the middle of the ice.
Brady Tkachuk is considered an X-factor in this series because of his ability to create havoc in the corners and in front of the net. Through the opening 20 minutes, Tkachuk had three shots on net — two from the blue line and one from the face-off circle. That’s not sufficient for a Senators team that has struggled with generating goals from up close. They ended the regular season with the 25th-best high-danger goals for rate.
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For all that the Leafs can be accused of not always starting on time and not bringing their best in the opening game of the playoffs, they did nearly everything right off the hop. Up and down the lineup, they checked hard. They put their bodies in front of Senators shots. They played with energy and got traffic in front of Linus Ullmark.
And crucially, they made the most of their opportunities, scoring twice on four shots. Oliver Ekman-Larsson didn’t look like a defenceman labouring through any lingering injuries with his series-opening goal.
And Mitch Marner didn’t look like a player with the weight of the world on his shoulders with his electric breakaway goal.
With how heavily favoured the Leafs were coming into this series, it remained a possibility that the internal pressure would lead to some tightened grips on the Leafs’ sticks. That wasn’t the case. The Leafs were all over the Senators from the hop. And they didn’t let up, either.
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A generation after it began, the Battle of Ontario reignited in Game 1 between the Maple Leafs and Senators. And just as it went back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Leafs got the better of the Senators.
The Leafs’ dominant 6-2 win marked just the third time this Leafs core has won a series opener in 10 tries. And that’s fitting: this team looked quite different from recent iterations come playoff time. They stifled the Senators, whose lack of playoff experience showed up in taking needless penalties.
Of course, there’s plenty of hockey left in this matchup. But if Game 1 is any indication, this has the potential to be a short one.
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Will the Maple Leafs keep rolling tonight, or will the Senators find a way to even the series?
How far can the winner of this series go in the playoffs?
Send us your answers to these questions, or any thoughts you have, or any questions of your own, or just say hello!
You can email us at live@theathletic.com or, if you're a subscriber to The Athletic, you can also join the discussion page for this game here.
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Viewers in the United States can watch Game 2 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators on ESPN2, while those in Canada can watch the game on CBC and Sportsnet.
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Game 2 of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight, which is 4:30 p.m. PT.
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Hello hockey fans and welcome to The Athletic's live coverage of tonight's playoff game between the Maple Leafs and the Senators!
The Battle of Ontario continues with Game 2 after Toronto dominated the series opener at home on Sunday by a 6-2 scoreline.
Game 1 not only saw eight goals, it also included 24 penalties and 56 penalty minutes. Expect more fireworks tonight as the intensity can only go up from here!
