OTTAWA — Auston Matthews and his teammates overcame a plucky opponent to silence their doubters.
The Maple Leafs now face a tougher — and nastier test — in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Toronto advanced in the post-season for just the second time in the NHL's salary cap era Thursday with a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators to claim the Battle of Ontario in six games.
The defending champs are waiting on deck.
The Leafs, who led their provincial rival 3-0 in the series before consecutive losses that once again had a scarred fan base on edge and pundits sharpening knives, will face the Florida Panthers for a spot in the Eastern Conference final.
"It's going to be another hard series," Matthews said at Canadian Tire Centre moments after shaking hands with the Senators. "We've definitely got to reset, do our homework, rest up, and go in there with confidence.
"And go in there with some pushback."
That's among the many challenges against the Panthers — a battle-tested group that lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Cup final before hoisting hockey's Holy Grail following a seven-game victory over the Edmonton Oilers last June.
Led by captain Aleksander Barkov and winger Matthew Tkachuk up front, Florida disposed of the Tampa Bay Lightning in a physical five games earlier this week.
Steamrolled by the Panthers in the second round two years ago, the Leafs have added more grit and determination to the roster. They will need every ounce of it.
"They have a lot of good pieces," said Toronto head coach Craig Berube, who wanted to enjoy the victory over Ottawa before shifting focus. "They're hard to play against."
Tkachuk and fellow forward Sam Bennett make a habit of wreaking havoc on opposing goaltenders, while Florida also added winger Brad Marchand — a Toronto nemesis from playoffs past — from the Boston Bruins ahead of the trade deadline.
"This stage of the season, every game, every series, it's going to be hard," Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz said. "Everyone wants the same goal, wants a Stanley Cup."
The 31-year-old climbed that mountain just over 10 months ago with the Panthers as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky. The understudy will now go toe-to-toe with his mentor.
"I'm extremely proud of the way that our team handled business," Stolarz said of Toronto's victory over Ottawa.
The Leafs also have defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Steven Lorentz from Florida's title-winning squad.
The Panthers will be without defenceman Aaron Ekblad when the series opens after he was suspended two games for a forearm to the head of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in a first-round matchup packed with massive hits — both within and outside the rules.
That should give the Leafs, who improved to 2-13 in potential series-clinching games since 2018 with their victory Thursday in the nation's capital, an indication of the level required against a team that will no doubt do all it can to get into Stolarz's kitchen.
"It's going to be like that against any team," he said in trying to downplay what's to come. "I've watched a lot of the playoff games."
Toronto fans, meanwhile, had watched their team lose two in a row to the Senators to ratchet up the tension around a club that has plenty of playoff demons, including a blown 3-1 series lead in 2021 against the Montreal Canadiens before falling in seven.
Inside the locker room, however, things remained calm.
"It's in one ear, out the other," Matthews said of the noise around his team when Ottawa forced the provincial showdown to Game 6. "It's all about the guys in the room … continuing to do what we can for one another.
"Just continue to push."
The Leafs will need plenty of that with what's soon to come.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
