OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 4-2 loss in Game 6 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round on Thursday. Ottawa is now 0-5 all-time in playoff series against their Battle of Ontario rivals from Toronto.
The Senators (45-30-7) made the playoffs as the first wild card from the Eastern Conference. It was their first postseason appearance since 2017, when they lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins in heartbreaking fashion when Chris Kunitz ended their Cup dreams with the series-winning goal in double overtime for Pittsburgh.
The Skinny
Potential Unrestricted Free Agents: Claude Giroux, F; Nick Cousins, F; Matthew Highmore, F; Adam Gaudette, F; Hayden Hodgson, F; Travis Hamonic, D; Dennis Gilbert, D; Anton Forsberg, G
Potential Restricted Free Agents: Fabian Zetterlund, F; Tyler Kleven, D; Nikolas Matinpalo, D
Potential 2025 Draft Picks: 6
Here are five reasons the Senators were eliminated:
1. Powerless Play
The Senators ranked 12th among the 16 teams in the first round of the playoffs with a power play percentage of 20 percent, converting on just three of 15 opportunities.
But their issues with the man-advantage ran deeper than just the numbers.
In the end, their puck movement simply was too slow. Defenseman Jake Sanderson, the quarterback of the power play, is a special talent and scored the overtime winner in Game 4 but was far too hesitant in his decision making. That gave Toronto defensemen Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe ample time to get into shooting and passing lanes and disrupt the chemistry of the Senators unit.
2. Where’s Drake?
During the regular season, forward Drake Batherson finished second in team scoring with 68 points (26 goals, 42 assists) and was one of Ottawa’s most consistent players.
He was far from that against the Maple Leafs.
In six playoff games, Batherson had just two points (one goal, one assist), was a team-worst minus-4 and was second on the team with 10 penalty minutes, many of those coming via undisciplined plays that resulted in minors.
Batherson is no longer a young up-and-comer. He's 27 years old and is looked upon as a team leader. He simply needs to be better in the clutch.
3. Rocky Ridly
After captain Brady Tkachuk, you won’t find a more effective crease disturber than forward Ridly Greig.
Indeed, who can forget how effective he was in getting under the skin of Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz, so much so that Stolarz decked him in Game 2.
He could elevate into the type of irritant (think Brad Marchand) that could be uber effective come playoff time when open ice is hard to come by and greasy goals are the norm.
At the same time, the 22-year-old’s effectiveness seemed to be scuttled the longer the series went.
In the end, his only offensive production was one lone goal. He’ll never be a sniper in the NHL, but he does need to learn how to be more consistent in the postseason. He’s still young enough to learn.
4. Lack of traffic
As discussed earlier, the Senators have players like Tkachuk and Greig who have a knack of creating traffic in front of the opposing goalie.
The trouble is, they didn’t do it enough. And it often led to some extremely woeful shot totals.
In the third period of Game 2, a 3-2 Maple Leafs victory in overtime, the Senators managed just four shots.
In the third period of Game 3, another 3-2 overtime win by Toronto, Ottawa had just two.
In Game 4, a 4-3 overtime victory by the Senators, Ottawa managed only four total shots in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
While some credit must go to Toronto’s stingy defense, you aren’t going to win many postseason games if you don’t direct more pucks at the net. Ottawa’s inability to do that was one of the factors that cost them the series in the end.
5. Growing pains
For many Senators players, this was their first taste of NHL playoff hockey. It showed.
You are going to have growing pains in the playoffs, especially when your franchise hasn’t been to the postseason in almost a decade. There is less room on the ice, the checking is more intense and games are decided by the smallest of details.
It’s not that Ottawa didn’t play well. The Senators worked hard and were in every game except the first one. But it’s little lapses, like leaving the Maple Leafs’ Max Pacioretty alone in the slot late in Game 6 that resulted in the series-winning goal that cost the Senators.
With experience comes knowledge. And what the young Ottawa players went through in the past two weeks stands to benefit them in the long run.
