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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators are underway with Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.
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P1 14:11 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Mitch Marner's effective penalty killing is on display again. He deflects a Brady Tkachuk pass out of the zone, showcasing his active stick.
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P1 15:04 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Brady Tkachuk draws the penalty on four-on-four, courtesy of John Tavares.
It's now four-on-three for 43 seconds. Big opportunity for Ottawa.
P1 16:21 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Nick Cousins with a backhand shot that's stopped by Anthony Stolarz. Brandon Carlo and David Perron both get penalties.
Four-on-four upcoming for two minutes. Get ready for some open hockey.
P1 17:15 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Pontus Holmberg with an early scoring chance for Toronto. Linus Ullmark denies Holmberg, leading to some cheers from the crowd.
P1 18:00 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Max Pacioretty just had his first shift of the playoffs. He slotted into the lineup tonight for Nick Robertson.
Pacioretty checked Fabian Zetterlund into the boards in Ottawa's zone. Good start.
P1 19:08 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
Brady Tkachuk gets the first shot of the game. It's an easy save from Anthony Stolarz.
Tkachuk and Jake McCabe pushed and shoved after the whistle. Game on!
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P1 20:00 – Maple Leafs 0, Senators 0
We're underway from the Canadian Tire Centre with Game 3.
It's time for the Canadian national anthem. And then puck drop.
We're moments away from Game 3.
Get excited hockey fans.
If you were wondering about the atmosphere tonight, Senators fans are certainly in the majority. They’ve drowned out Maple Leafs in droves. Former goaltender Craig Anderson rang the ceremonial bell before puck drop. The famed ‘Danger Flutes’ game intro even reappeared during the Sens’ game intro.
A home game 2,893 days in the making. That’s the last time the Senators hosted a playoff game eight years ago. It’s a party at the Canadian Tire Centre.
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The official lineups are in and there are no surprises from either team. The Leafs are starting the Knies-Matthews-Marner line and the Sens are using last line change to counter with their shutdown unit: Greig-Pinto-Amadio.
It's very early, but judging from a walk outside Canadian Tire Centre and throughout the arena concourse, the prevailing colour here is red, not blue. For all the discussion about a possible invasion of Leafs fans, Senators fans seem to have shown up in spades. Of course, things could change — the arena is a drive from downtown Ottawa and fans could be arriving late — but as it stands, Senators fans heavily outnumber those in blue and white.
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The Maple Leafs have a 34-48 record in Game 3’s in franchise best-of-seven series. In road Game 3's, the Leafs are 12-20.
Last year against the Boston Bruins, the Leafs lost in Game 3 4-2. But in 2023, the Leafs won in OT on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning, en route to winning their first playoff series in 19 years.
Ottawa Senators coach Travis Green talked about the learning experience for his young team so far in this series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Our team has learned a lot in two games," Green said to Sportsnet pregame. "We’ve talked about responding when we need to. We need a win.”
On the Senators captain Brady Tkachuk: "I’ve liked his emotional control…The intensity is going to be high. You have to keep your composure.”
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Below is the Maple Leafs-Senators Game 3 spread, moneyline and O/U goal total, per BetMGM.
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Of our eight The Athletic NHL writers, it's a 4-4 split on who will win Game 3.
Read below the full Game 3 preview courtesy of The Athletic's Sarah Jean Maher.
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NHL playoff picks, odds, how to watch info for Thursday’s Stanley Cup action including Maple Leafs-Senators
The Toronto Maple Leafs had rally towels for Games 1 and 2 in Scotiabank Arena. Now it's Ottawa's turn, with the Canadian Tire Centre hosting the first playoff game since 2017.
Below are the rally towels on the seats, which say "Heart over hype."
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By Julian McKenzie and Joshua Kloke
With the wind and snow howling outside the Greig family car, a pre-teen Ridly Greig sat quietly beside his father, Mark.
Mark, a former NHL player and amateur scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, had begun taking his son on scouting trips through Alberta with two objectives: one, some quality time between father and son; two, to give Ridly, who had begun to separate himself from his peers on the ice, the opportunity to observe players with likely NHL futures.
Ridly didn’t usually talk a lot. But the long car rides home from rinks allowed him to come out of his shell, asking questions about the players he watched with his dad. What made them successful? Why were some better than others?
It was during those car rides that Ridly Greig started to understand what it would take to play in the NHL — and began charting his own path toward becoming an agitator for Ottawa Senators and the unquestioned villain in Toronto during a first-round series against the Maple Leafs.
“It’s about winning at all costs for him. That’s in his DNA,” Mark said. “He has a fierce quietness that burns on the inside.”
Read more below.
GO FURTHER
‘Little rat’: How Senators’ quiet pest Ridly Greig became a hockey villain
