A little over twelve hours to go and we’re there, everyone! At the Scotiabank Arena for the first game of Round 1 of the playoffs between longtime rivals: The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators. What better way to start off the next few weeks than with two top contenders from the Atlantic division set to square off in what promises to be a really exciting game. The Leafs are looking good, with all safe bets placed on the blue sweaters, but the Senators have been known to surprise. Though the Senators were named underdogs for 34 games of this season, they ended up winning 50% of those games, so it is a literal coin toss. And with Brady Tkachuk coming back into action for this game, Auston Matthews is getting serious about the dangers of that probability.

When asked in a

post practice interview on Saturday what he could say about Tkachuk’s play and Playoff debut after his experience with him in the 4 Nations Face-Off, Yeah, Matthews replied in all sincerity, “I mean, he’s a competitor. He’s a guy that’s going to do whatever it takes, and physically, he’s going to be around the net, so he’s going to be a guy that we have to do a good job on in all aspects of that area.”

Though Tkachuk returned from injury briefly against Carolina, he didn’t finish playing the game, because he reportedly took a stick to the face in his warm up! Ouch, but either things don’t seem to be too bad, or Tkachuk hasn’t resigned himself to that just as yet, as he was reported to have said, after being pulled out of that game, “Yeah, no issues. I just wanted to get some reps, power-play reps, and I think we accomplished that.” 

 

Whether or not Brady is hanging on to every thread of hope will only be known in a few hours. But it is easy to understand why he might, not only is this his debut playoff appearance, but it is also a renewal of the 20 year old Battle of Ontario between these two Atlantic division contenders, and a long awaited chance for the Senators to get even, something that Auston Matthews is more than aware of.

Playoff stakes higher than ever for Auston Matthews: Battle of Ontario returns after two decades

20 years! A seriously long time for the Ottawa Senators to have waited to finally be back in the playoffs with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who, between the years of 2000 to 2004 defeated the Senators in all four of the playoff series games that that they competed in! Things are different now though, Ottawa has got a feisty young core comprising of Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, and Jake Sanderson (Also someone Matthews knows to watch out for, with him saying in that post practice interview: “Like Brady, he’s (Sanderson’s) another guy we’ve got to key on, make sure we’re limiting his time and space out there, and always know where he is, because he’s very elusive.”)

This time around the Senators also have five players down with injury, while the Leafs just have one. However, to balance that out, the Senators do have the home ice advantage considering they finished the regular season stronger than the Leafs. So the scales seem to be somewhat balanced, making for an exciting game…or battle, rather.

And while the Senators have everything to prove, and Tkachuk, personally, this might be the Leafs last chance to cinch the cup with this particular core team. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander might all be in completely different places next season, so maybe that’s why Matthews’ doesn’t seem like he’s going to be taking Tkachuk lightly, injury or no inury, the battle of Ontario commences!