Plenty of history attached to the Leafs-Senators Battle of Ontario

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For the first time in eight years, the Ottawa Senators are in the playoffs — and what better way to return than in a Battle of Ontario.
Some notes and quotes on the coming series with the Maple Leafs after a 21-year hiatus.

LOWERING THE BROOM

If you hadn’t heard, the Sens dominated this season’s series, a combined 9-3 score. Toronto was blanked 3-0 in the November opener that Auston Matthews missed with his suspected back injury. But before each game, the Leafs had one to three days off to prepare that was clearly not put to good use.

Those six points helped Ottawa’s clinch. Of note was a lack of power-play chances for Toronto in the final two matches, with one Ottawa minor in each. But this is a series where historically, you can throw regular-season stats out the window. Ottawa also tended to dominate the meetings in the four years the clubs met in the playoffs in the early 2000s, but the Leafs won them all.

The biggest shocker was 2001. After the Sens won all four games, including the last one on the schedule, gloom and doomers prevailed on Bay Street. But Leafs coach Pat Quinn revamped the look of the Leafs in a mini-camp and it took just six days to sweep the Sens.

ANDLAUER POWER

If you want to thank someone for rejuvenating this rivalry, send a note to Michael Andlauer.

After he bought the Sens two seasons ago, it was clear he wasn’t just slapping a Band-Aid on their lingering wounds, he was all about the big picture. The Canadian-schooled businessman made management changes and authorized the bold Dylan Cozens trade at last month’s deadline, even though a playoff spot wasn’t locked up.

After a congratulatory call to general manager Steve Staios upon clinching, he got into further playoff spirit raising a team flag at Ottawa City Hall on Wednesday.

Andlauer enjoys teasing the Leafs and saw nothing wrong with Ridley Greig’s empty-net slapper last season that enraged Morgan Rielly and his teammates.

And for the chance this series becomes seven home games for the Leafs at the Canadian Tire Centre and their travelling fan show?

“I’m not concerned,” Andlauer told TSN this week. ”The way we approach it, we give our season ticket-holders the opportunity at two extra tickets before they go on public sale. I think we have 12,000 seats sold. Die-hard Sens fans will bring their friends.”

He calculates that means only a few thousand will be available for out-of-towners for Games 3 and 4.
“I know we’ve had hard luck in the Battle of Ontario,” he added, “but (the fans) have a new owner.”

BLUE-TINTED BENCH

Both head coaches in this series played for the Leafs.

Ottawa’s Travis Green was a centre from 2001-03, then briefly in ’06-07. He played bottom-six roles with everyone from Gary Roberts to Tie Domi (that would be current Leaf Max’s dad) getting 58 points in 183 games and was in the ’02 series between the clubs. Green’s theatrics with Chris Neil ignited Darcy Tucker’s memorable solo charge into the Senators bench.

The belligerent Berube had a 40-game stint in 1991-92, in which he had 12 points in 40 games before being part of the 10-player Doug Gilmour trade with Calgary.

As this is the only all-Canadian first-round series, it’s fitting both coaches are also Western-born — Green in Castlegar, B.C., Berube from Calahoo, Alta.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

What do Sergei Berezin, Yanic Perreault, Alex Mogilny and Joe Nieuwendyk have in common?
All had winning goals that eliminated Ottawa in the aforementioned four Battles. But there are plenty of names on both teams still remembered for other reasons.

Daniel Alfredsson fake-tossing Mats Sundin’s stick into the crowd, Curtis Joseph stumbling into referee Mick McGeough to argue a call, Jason Spezza, Patrick Lalime, Chris Neil — all of their fireworks on the soundtrack of Bob Cole’s play-by-play as action heated up and the teams ignored the no-fighting code in the post-season.

“In my pre-game nap, I’d wake up with my arm caught in the bed sheet trying to throw a punch,” a laughing Neil told Sportsnet in 2023 of his series’ recollections. “It’s like I’m fighting somebody twice in the same day.”

LUCK OF THE IRISH

Toronto and Ottawa’s playoff history actually goes back two centuries.

In 1891, Ottawa defeated the Toronto St. George’s to win the Ontario title and in 1904, the the Ottawa ‘Silver Seven’, beat the Toronto Marlboroughs on their way to the Stanley Cup.

The NHL was just four years old when the original Senators met Leaf forerunners, the St. Patricks, in the 1921 league final. The Pats were dusted 6-0 and 2-0 in a total-goal series as Ottawa went on to beat PCHL champion Vancouver Millionaires for the Cup. A year later was Toronto’s turn, a 5-4 win and 0-0 tie setting up the Pats over the Millionaires.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

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