The Ottawa Senators played a playoff game. Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Thomas Chabot, Shane Pinto, and nine other players made their playoff debut in Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Getting to this point in itself is a win. It may be a small win, but it is a win. Now, looking past the moral victory of just making it, there are a lot of things to take away from the 6-2 loss to the Leafs.
Bad Officiating or Poor Discipline?
The biggest gripe that Senators fans have with Game 1 was the penalties. That was the talk of the town. To get it out of the way, let’s go through some of the penalties.
Penalty 1: Tim Stutzle Boarding against Chris Tanev
This call was interesting. Stutzle did hit Chris Tanev from behind just two feet from the boards, and it could’ve been an ugly hit, but it wasn’t. It was a relatively light hit, and Tanev didn’t crash into the boards or anything. By definition, it is boarding, but in the playoffs, that doesn’t get called very often.
Penalty 2: Ridly Greig Cross-Checking on John Tavares
Yeah. That is a penalty. It was originally looked at as a major penalty, but was rightfully reduced. It didn’t look malicious, John Tavares was fine, and it was more of a reaction to the incoming hit than intent to injure or anything…and no, it isn’t comparable to Morgan Rielly’s cross-check on Greig…at all.
Penalty 3: Adam Gaudette Cross-Checking on Auston Matthews
Very similar to the first penalty, yes, it was a cross-check, but Auston Matthews went down pretty easily, and that goes with playoff experience. He knows how to sell a call in the playoffs. It didn’t quite warrant an embellishment penalty, but good on Matthews for feeling the contact from Adam Gaudette and taking advantage.
Penalty 4: Drake Batherson Tripping on Calle Jarnkrok
This is the only one that is definitely not a penalty. There is a lot of arguing to be done about the others, but not this one. Drake Batherson had shoulder-on-shoulder contact with Calle Jarnkrok, and while his leg was seemingly in a position for a slew-foot, that contact wasn’t made. There was some contact between the two players’ upper thighs, but certainly not enough to warrant a tripping call. It was a body check, and he knocked Jarnkrok over.
Penalties 5-11: Chaos
Yeah, these were almost all offsetting minors, with a few other calls in there. That happens.
So after looking at them all, yes, there was a lot of controversy with most of them, but only one genuinely wrong call. There was an infraction on the first three, and while the expectation of the “playoff rulebook” may have been placed in their heads, you can’t blame the officials for the loss.
Penalty Kill Was Brutal
Though you may not have liked it, the Senators were on the penalty kill quite a few times. Once a call is made, there is no point in arguing it. It happened whether you like it or not. Now it is time to pick your head up and kill the penalty.
That didn’t happen. The Maple Leafs scored three power play goals on six opportunities. Those three goals were all scored very quickly into their respective opportunities, with just 20 seconds killed across those three penalty kills.
Related: Senators Struggle With Penalties in Game 1 as Maple Leafs Win 6-2
All of those goals were directly off the faceoff. The Maple Leafs were much better in the faceoff dot, and it hurt the Senators. Overall, the Senators are one of the best teams in the league by the stats when it comes to faceoffs, but Claude Giroux lost two of those draws that led directly to the goals. Now, he is allowed to lose a faceoff here and there, but he needs to be better there moving forward.
After the faceoffs, the penalty kill struggled to get into formation. Teams usually opt for one of two styles, either the diamond or box. The Senators use the diamond, which takes an extra few seconds to get into position, and it bit them. They were scrambling to find their spot, and by the time they did, the Maple Leafs had already set up a scoring chance.
Ullmark Needs a Big Bounce-Back
Over his time with the Boston Bruins, Linus Ullmark struggled in the playoffs at times. That was evident by his stats. The hope was that as the true starter and with no internal stress about losing the spot to someone like Jeremy Swayman, he could settle in well. On a few of the goals against, there isn’t much more Ullmark could have done. Looking at Mitch Marner’s breakaway goal for the Leafs’ second goal, it was a great move, and he earned that goal. The Maple Leafs did a great job at getting traffic in front and made it difficult for him to track pucks. The Senators are going to need to work on clearing the space in front of him to give support.
There is no doubt you go back to Ullmark for Game 2. He got you to this point, he is your goaltender, it happens. He is just going to need to make some more saves, especially on the ones where he has a clean look at the shooter.
Zetterlund Needs to be Elevated in the Lineup
One of the best players on the Senators in Game 1 was Fabian Zetterlund. Unfortunately, he played under 11 minutes and wasn’t given enough ice time. He was playing good physical hockey, he was hard on forechecks, and good on his defensive coverage. We saw throughout the regular season that he plays good hockey anywhere in the lineup, but is most effective with closer to 15-16 minutes and playing with better players.
The best move for head coach Travis Green to make would be to insert him on the top line where Giroux is playing, and bump Giroux down the lineup.
Now, Giroux is still a very effective player. I am not saying that he deserves under 11 minutes of ice time, but if he spends time on the fourth line with Gaudette and Matthew Highmore (or Nick Cousins…but we will get to that), he will make them better, Zetterlund should be in a better position, and it will improve the team.
Zetterlund brought the exact kind of energy that the Senators needed in the second half, and time with Tkachuk and Stutzle could do everybody a favour.
Nick Cousins Deserves To Play
Highmore hasn’t been bad, but he isn’t the best player for the fourth line that the Senators have available. Cousins has playoff pedigree. He was a key part of the 2023 Stanley Cup run the Florida Panthers went on, and while he wasn’t as much of a regular player, he had 12 games and was important at times in the 2024 run where the Panthers won the Stanley Cup.
He had a great six-week stretch of hockey before Maple Leafs forward Jacob Quillan collided with him and blew out his knee, and he has only played one game since, but his tenacity, physicality, and hard work pay off for him. He was giving the Senators good depth scoring, and just brings everything you need from a fourth line in the playoffs.
There was a clip circulating of Cousins speaking with a trainer at the morning skate, so maybe he isn’t fully ready to go, but if it just simply a coaching decision, it is time for him to play.
Get Ready for Game 2
Game 1 wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were positives, but these are the biggest narratives. They had good stretches of play, but all momentum was taken away with the penalties and goals from the Leafs. Game 2 takes place on April 22, and the Senators need to be ready and will have a better understanding of what will and won’t get them a penalty.
