Notebook: Senators embracing underdog status vs. Maple Leafs

OTTAWA — Everyone loves an underdog.

That’s been the mentality the Ottawa Senators are embracing ahead of Game 1 against the archrival Toronto Maple Leafs.

“It’s not a secret that we’re the underdogs going into this series,” said coach Travis Green. “Would you hope that it’s an advantage for us, sure.”

Pressure can be a privilege, but it can also be a burden.

Ask yourself this. Whenever you are competing and are expected to win, what happens?

Your arms start to sweat, your heart rate rises, and you tense up. But it’s a different story when you have nothing to lose.

“To be totally honest, I feel like Toronto is feeling more pressure than us right now, for sure,” Jake Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca at practice on Saturday. “To be the underdog, I don’t want to say it’s nice or whatnot, but yeah, it just takes a little bit of pressure off, and we can just go and play. And not really have anything to lose.”

We won’t need to dwell on the Leafs’ past playoff downfalls, but ask any sports psychologist and they will tell you that when pressure is removed, athletes perform better.

Athletes who are favourites can always overcome the pressurized environments, and sometimes talent simply wins out. There’s no question that the Maple Leafs, in theory, should win the series, but that’s why they play the games.

“Obviously, it’s our first time making the playoffs, but I mean, we’ve beaten Toronto before,” said Shane Pinto. “I know it’s in the regular season, but I don’t think we look at it like that. I think we trust our game and when you have Linus (Ullmark) back there, it gives us a pretty good chance to win.”

Heading into the first Battle of Ontario in 21 years, the Maple Leafs have playoff demons while the Senators are the new kids on the playoff block. And that matters, to a point. It would be miraculous if the Senators won the Stanley Cup without playoff experience, but a round?

It can be and has been done.

“There’s going to be some learning, for sure,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca. “We’d be lying if we said there wasn’t, we haven’t done it before. And a lot of guys in Toronto, I mean, pretty much everybody has been to the playoffs every single year.”

Which would you rather have: Blissful inexperience or playoff nightmares?

We will find out in the next two weeks which one wins out.

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Another Tkachuk injury scare

The Brady Tkachuk injury watch might become a constant in Ottawa’s 2025 playoff journey. There have been a slew of injuries for Tkachuk since the 4 Nations Face-Off, including in Thursday’s season finale when he returned to the lineup but then left again for precautionary reasons after taking a high-stick. Unfortunately, Tkachuk was high-sticked again during practice on Saturday, leading to momentary worry.

Thankfully for Sens Nation, Tkachuk is fine. The Senators will need a fully unleashed Tkachuk to have any chance against the Maple Leafs.

“I think he’s going to be a beast,” Sanderson said.

How Ottawa will try to stop Toronto’s lethal offence

Toronto’s firepower is obvious with the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares up front.

While regular-season matchups don’t tell the full story, the Maple Leafs only scored three goals in three games against the Senators this season, although Matthews missed one.

Without the last change on the road for Ottawa, it will be incumbent on Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens to hold their own defensively when they are out against Toronto’s top dogs.

“It’s not something new. It’s not a new rule in the playoffs,” said Green about not having the last change for Games 1 and 2. “So we’ll plan accordingly, but we are very comfortable. Those guys get tough matchups all the time on the road. A lot of times the other team is matching either their checking line against Timmy’s (line) or their top line. So he’s used to that, won’t be anything out of the ordinary.”

Still, Green will thrust the Ridly Greig-Shane Pinto-Michael Amadio trio up against Matthews’ line any time he can.

“Obviously check well,” said Pinto on how to neutralize Matthews’ line. “I think Ridly does a good job to trying to get under their skin a little bit. I think that’s going to be what we’re going to try to do. They’re good players, they’re going to get their chances, but it’s just kind of trying to neutralize that. Just need to check well and kind of play our game, I think we trust our game.”

The line of Greig-Pinto-Amadio started 45 per cent of the time in the defensive zone this season, compared to Ottawa’s top line of Tkachuk, Stutzle and Claude Giroux that began in the defensive zone 20 per cent of the time.

If Pinto’s line can hold its own against Matthews’ line, Ottawa will be in a great position to vanquish their rival. On the season the line has an expected goals allowed rate of 2.31 per 60 minutes at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. It’s one of the best defensive lines in the league.

Who will Ottawa’s bottom pair be?

Green never likes to show his hand when it comes to lineups. Expect the cards to be held even tighter in the post-season.

It’s still unclear whether Tyler Kleven will be paired up with Nikolas Matinpalo or Travis Hamonic.

“I didn’t say that was my pairing,” Green said when asked whether he would play Kleven-Matinpalo against Toronto for Game 1.

Regardless, the third pairing appears to be an Achilles’ heel.

Here are the stats at five-on-five. Not good.

Courtesy of Natural Stat-Trick

It looks like Kleven-Matinpalo will start together for Game 1. Nonetheless, whichever pairing it is, Ottawa’s defence depth will be challenged during the series.

Playoff physicality for young Senators

You won’t be worried about Tkachuk’s physical play in the playoffs, but it will be curious to see how the rest of Ottawa’s young stars deal with the added layer of aggression in the playoffs.

“That’s a good question,” Sanderson said. “Honestly, I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days, and I think there’s going to be times where I’m going to need to step out of my comfort zone and play more physically. Especially against their top guys to try to wear them down as much as I can. But at the same time, I’m not going to go out of my way and be chasing hits.”

Meanwhile, Sanderson’s teammates are also ready for a different experience in the playoffs.

“The guys have been telling us that there’s pretty much no puck out there, just playing rugby, basically,” said Pinto.

Thomas Chabot put it best.

“It’s the best time of the year, right after Christmas. There’s nothing better than playoff hockey.”

On Sunday it all starts. Battle of Ontario in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Who else can’t wait?

Senators projected lines for Game 1

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux
Perron-Cozens-Batherson
Greig-Pinto-Amadio
Cousins-Gaudette-Zetterlund
Highmore

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Matinpalo
Gilbert-Hamonic 

Ullmark starts
Forsberg

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