2025 Playoffs Round 1, Game 4 Hub: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators
After a season full of "must win" games, we finally get to Ottawa's first actual "must win" game in eight years.
This is it. The Sens season is officially on life support. Lose, and you're clean out your locker for the summer. Win, and you get up to three more chances to not clean out that locker just yet.
This preview will be published before we know much about lineups, but we don't expect many changes overall. The Leafs made a bottom-six change for game three, swapping in Max Pacioretty for Nick Robertson, and we'll see if the Sens make any changes given the injured players they have in the lineup at the moment. If they do, I wonder if Angus Crookshank draws in given that he was trusted to play important games down the stretch.
Regardless, it was quite impressive to see the Canadian Tire Centre go red and black on Thursday night, and I'm hoping this remains true tonight. There's been a wholehearted effort from Sens management to individual fans to cheer on the team, and hopefully the Sens reward these efforts with a crucial victory.
Game Notes
- We all know just how rare the reverse sweep is. This is one area where the Sens have more experience in the locker room than the Leafs do, since Claude Giroux's Flyers completed a 4-3 series win against the Boston Bruins in 2010.
- Brady's go-to reference for the reverse sweep was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, having recently watched "The Comeback" documentary about their championship run that included the reverse sweep against the Yankees
- No lobbing, shooting, firing, deflecting or otherwise directing the puck at any Leafs players during warm-ups tonight, okay?
- The list of players recalled by Ottawa to watch Game 4 (and beyond?) include: Carter Yakemchuk, Tomas Hamara, Zack MacEwen, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Cole Reinhardt, Jan Jenik, Tyler Boucher, Garrett Pilon, Wyatt Bongiovanni, Donovan Sebrango and Mads Søgaard. Hopefully they get to experience something legendary.
- Game 3 was the Leafs' best game at 5-on-5, with the third period being an especially stifling performance outside of the Tkachuk goal. Ottawa's fourth line of David Perron, Nick Cousins, and Adam Gaudette generated the team's most xG at 5-on-5... which is... not a good sign.
- At 5-on-5, Simon Benoit and Tyler Kleven are tied for second in points with 2.
- Ottawa continued to keep Marner, Matthews, and Knies in check overall, while Travis Green was able to get his first line out against the Leafs fourth line for a few shifts and minimized their presence. The Leafs star players continue to find ways to put up points, though, and the Sens will have to overcome that to pull of a win.
Where to watch/listen: CBC, TVAS, TSN1200 @ 7PM EST
