Steady Senators shut out Maple Leafs 4-0

TORONTO – For a team in true must-win mode, the Ottawa Senators showed no signs of desperation on Tuesday night.

They didn’t need to. A structured game, quality goaltending and timely offence helped the Senators to a 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 to send the first-round series back to the nation’s capital.

“We just played a really good road game tonight, top to bottom,” said Ottawa head coach Travis Green.

Thomas Chabot scored in the second period and Dylan Cozens added a short-handed goal in the third. Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk added empty-net goals and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for the shutout.

After dropping the first three games, the Senators took Game 4 with a 4-3 overtime win at home. Now they’ll return to a rocking Canadian Tire Centre for Game 6 on Thursday, hoping their home fans can help lift them to a decider.

“I expect pure insanity, that’s for sure,” said Tkachuk. “I mean, they know how important they are.”

Ottawa did well to quiet the early buzz in the sold-out Scotiabank Arena. Toronto had a 12-4 edge in shots in the first period but the Senators had the better chances.

Just a couple minutes into the game, Maple Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz was left scrambling after a puck hit the inside of the post and rolled near the goal-line. Defenceman Morgan Rielly dived down near the crease to help keep it out.

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Chris Tanev made a strong defensive play later in the period on Ottawa’s Drake Batherson, who had an open net by the side of the cage but was tied up by the Toronto blueliner.

Chabot was slow to get up after taking a Rielly cross-check that sent him into the boards late in the period. The blueliner didn’t miss a shift and opened the scoring at 3:46 of the second when his shot from the point beat a screened Stolarz.

Ullmark came through when needed and his teammates were winning puck battles and driving the play.

“The guys pulled through today with a couple of huge defensive plays that kept (the Leafs) out of it,” Ullmark said.

The visitors played with purpose from the outset while the Maple Leafs seemed somewhat handcuffed and out of sync.

“We kept playing our game,” said Chabot. “We found ways to score at the right time and found ways not to give them a whole lot of looks off the rush. It was just a great team effort overall.”

Senators centre Ridly Greig needlessly hauled down Toronto’s Mitch Marner midway through the third period but it was Ottawa’s penalty killers who came through as Cozens scored on a 2-on-1 short-handed break.

“I think we stepped up our game,” Cozens said. “I think each and every game we’re learning. We’re learning more about how the game is meant to be played in the playoffs.

“We’re just improving each game and I think we came out ready to go tonight.”

Ottawa is making its first post-season appearance in eight years. The Senators have yet to win a Battle of Ontario series, dropping three straight editions from 2000-02 before falling again in ’04.

The Senators won all three meetings against the Maple Leafs in the regular season and forced overtime in three of the first four playoff games.

“There’s a lot of belief in our team if we can play our game,” Green said.

Only four NHL teams have come back to win a playoff series from an 0-3 deficit.

Senators forward Claude Giroux, who played in his 100th career playoff game on Tuesday, was on the 2010 Philadelphia team that completed the rare comeback.

The 2014 Los Angeles Kings, 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Maple Leafs are the others.

Game 7, if necessary, would be played Saturday night in Toronto.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2025.