The Battle Of Ontario Has All The Potential To Be An Absolute Bloodbath
There's an old saying in Tennessee--I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee--that says, "if you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up".
The Ottawa Senators cannot beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on the scoreboard. That's not because the Leafs are some unstoppable juggernaut destined for glory. But mainly because the Ottawa Senators are addicted to taking penalties. They played a clean game in the 1st period and were only down by 1. Then they decided to take 5 penalties in the 2nd period and all of a sudden they're down by 3 after Toronto scored two powerplay goals. You're going to get your dicks kicked in by any team in the playoffs if you give them that many chances to kill you on the powerplay.
Now to be fair, most of their penalty minutes on the night came in that melee in the final minute of regulation when it was time to send a message that they're not backing down yet. There were so many penalties to hand out in that one that referee Garrett Rank had to write them all down on a pad of paper like he was a waiter taking your dinner order.
This is what the Battle of Ontario needs to be. It can either be a close game that comes down to the wire, or it needs to be a total shit show once the score gets out of control. Game 1 in the Avalanche vs Stars series was a snoozefest because it was a blowout without any animosity. Game 1 in the Devils vs Hurricanes series was a snoozefest because it was a blowout without any animosity. Not every playoff game is going to go to overtime, but you better play like the biggest dickhead in the world once your team starts getting blown out to let the other team know what they're in store for.
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Sure, you can say you need to be "more disciplined" to the reporters after the game. You're not going to tell them about the group chat with the boys trying to take out Marner and Matthews. But everybody knows that shit bag hockey is fully on the table now. Including the Leafs, who are going to have to be prepared to give it right back. Mix a couple more blowouts into the mix and this thing is about to really pop off.
The only thing holding this series back from reaching its full potential is the chance that Ottawa just completely forgets to play hockey and ends up getting swept. It'll be tough for the hatred in this series to fully carry over into next year if it only goes 4 games. The Leafs need to view Ottawa as a worthy adversary for that hatred to really blossom. But we're on our way here, people.
P.S. -- Leafs getting scoring from their top guys AND they're getting battle tested in an intense first round series? Might just be the Leafs Year.