The wait is over.
For Ottawa Senators fans, Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre won't just be about Game 3 against the rival Maple Leafs, it’ll be all the pregame excitement of the Red Zone, the goosebumps when the lights go down, that explosive roar when the Senators storm the ice, and the sea of rally towels, waving wildly as Lyndon Slewidge (we're hoping) belts out the final notes of our national anthem.
It’s been an eight-year wait, full of frustration, irritation and rebuild attempts — but Thursday's excitement buries it all. For the first time since Game 6 of the 2017 NHL Eastern Conference Final, the Senators will host a Stanley Cup Playoff game.
Thanks to Max Domi’s overtime goal in Game 2 in Toronto on Tuesday, ending a game the Senators played so well in, the series looks much different than it could have. So the Leafs are in control at the moment, holding a 2–0 series lead, which leaves the Senators little room for error in a pivotal Game 3.
If you’ll recall that game in 2017, the Senators were under even more pressure that night—they had just lost Game 5 by a score of 7–0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins and needed to win to stay alive. Craig Anderson played out of his mind that night, making 45 saves to help the Senators defeat the Pens 2–1.
"You know, as far as tonight, you just try to stay in the moment as best you can and focus on the baby steps," Anderson told NHL.com. "One shot at a time, and the big picture takes care of itself when you worry about the details."
That remains a great philosophy for the 2025 Senators, who could also use an Anderson-like playoff performance out of Linus Ullmark.
The Senators also have to solve Anthony Stolarz at the other end. While they played a much better game in Game 2, more often than not, it takes more than two goals to win. That's all the Sens have managed in each of the first two games and there's currently a 12-way tie for the Sens playoff scoring lead at one point.
Stolarz is also 10–0 in his last 10 games, with a .947 save percentage and three shutouts.
What the Senators need most is to get off to a better start. Both losses so far have been accompanied by early 2–0 deficits. The Senators hold the NHL's best record when scoring first in games.
They’re also a substantially better team at home than they are on the road, even better than Toronto, the division winner. The Sens were one game below .500 on the road, but their home record of 27–11–3 was the third-best in the conference, behind only the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Sens fans will need to be careful not to tear a rotator cuff. It's been a while since they waved the playoff rally towel. This year, the towels read "Heart over Hype," a perfect motto for a series against the Leafs, who receive the lion's share of the national media's attention, whether they're good or bad.
It will be interesting to see if the Senators' tactics to try and get more playoff tickets into the hands of Sens fans paid off or not. It should be a smaller Leaf fan contingent than we generally see flooding the building in the regular season, but how much smaller, if at all, remains to be seen.
Senators lines at game day skate (No Jensen or Greig again):
Tkachuk – Stützle – Giroux
Zetterlund – Cozens – Batherson
Highmore – Pinto – Amadio
Perron – Gaudette – Cousins
Defense:
Sanderson – Zub
Chabot – Hamonic
Kleven – Matinpalo
Goalies:
Ullmark (starter)
Forsberg
It will be interesting to see if Perron remains in a fourth line role in favour of the faster, younger Zetterlund.
Maple Leafs lines at game day skate:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Holmberg – Tavares – Nylander
Järnkrok – Laughton – Lorentz
Pacioretty – Domi – McMann
Defense:
McCabe – Tanev
Rielly – Carlo
Benoit – Ekman-Larsson
Goalies:
Stolarz (starter)
Woll
The Senators defence has been prone to getting beaten up the middle so far in this series. That makes Max Pacioretty’s addition for Game 3 one to watch. Going back to his days with the Montreal Canadiens, Pacioretty always seemed to be good for one or two breakaways every game against the Senators. But he’s 36 now and hasn’t played since February 8th.
It's a huge game in the series. But it's just as big for the psyche of the city's long-suffering fan base.
