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Ottawa – The Ottawa Senators still have a regular season game, but their sight is firmly placed in the upcoming playoffs.
On Tuesday night, the Senators learned that they will start the playoffs to target provincial rival Toronto Maple Leaf. Ottawa’s game against Toronto this season is 3-0-0.
This marks Ottawa’s first playoff appearance in eight years and its first playoff showdown with LEAFS since 2004.
Senator head coach Travis Green is eager for his team to experience the intensity of playoff hockey, and he is no stranger to the big names the provincial war offers.
Green was a member of the 2001-02 LEAFS team and defeated the Senators in seven games in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
“It’s exciting, it might be a little understatement,” Green said. “I think it’s going to be great for the province. The battle in Ontario is well known and we haven’t played in the playoffs in a long time, and it’s going to be exciting.”
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Now, Green will experience competition from another vantage point.
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“It’s not just the players who are excited,” he said. “The coaches are also excited.”
This time, he will be on the same team as Senator assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson. As a player, Alfredsson never beats Leafs in the playoff series, which only adds momentum to the team.
“It’s going to be fun,” Green said. “It’s going to be a fierce series, a lot of emotions, two cities, everything you want in the playoff series, players will love it and fans will love it. Looking forward to it.”
When the two teams last met in the playoffs, most of the current rosters were kids, but they heard about the competition and were happy to start a new chapter for the new generation.
“It’s great,” Drake Batherson said. “I mean, we’ll be happy with anyone, but I feel like everyone wants the battle in Ontario and they’ll get it, and that should be a good guy.”
Brady Tkachuk missed the past eight games with an upper body injury and if his captain will play the last game in the regular season against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, Green wouldn’t have promised one way or another.
“We’ll see it on Thursday,” Green said. “We weighed who was going to play, who wasn’t going to play, and Brady was no different, so we’ll see if he was going to play Thursday.”
Green said he had no problems if Takahook didn’t play before the opening playoff series began and was expected to be held in Toronto.
The Senators have been providing games for different players to prepare for the playoffs, but for those still in the roster, intensity and preparation remain the same.
“You want to win all the wins,” Tim Stutzle said. “Like I said before, we want to get into the playoffs with a good feeling.”
For others, the last few games are a chance to get their game back quickly. Nick Cousins missed 30 games due to surgery and is happy to be able to return to the roster last Sunday and have some games ahead of the playoffs.
This report by Canadian media was first released on April 15, 2025.
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
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