The Toronto Maple Leafs took the series opener in Toronto 6–2 over the Ottawa Senators. It was everything Leafs Nation could have asked for. The core four of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares finished with a combined nine points in Game 1, with three of the Leafs six goals coming on the man advantage. This type of performance is exactly what the fans want to see from the core four come the playoffs. With Marner becoming a UFA on July 1, that’s the type of game you want to have in order to get as much money as possible. It’s just one game However, let’s not overreact and go all Toronto about this. It’s Game 1 of Round 1 against an inexperienced Senators team. Less than half of their lineup had any playoff experience before this year. The most experienced Sen is easily David Perron, who has 62 points in 105 career playoff games and also won the Stanley Cup with the Blues under Craig Berube. This year is the first time the Senators have made the playoffs since their electric run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017. Consistency is going to be the key for the core four if the Leafs plan to make a run this spring. Marner was great, but remember 2021 against the Habs? He had the same number of delay-of-game penalties as points in that series. Positive signs from Game 1 In past years, the Leafs depth has been a concern, but the fourth line of Calle Jarnkrok, Scott Laughton, and Steven Lorentz was all over the place, hitting guys, generating offence, and Laughton setting up Oliver Ekman-Larsson for the opening goal. Linus Ullmark gave up six goals in Game 1, which would seem uncharacteristic of him, especially after a Vezina Trophy-winning season in 2023. However, after tonight, Ullmark has now allowed four or more goals in six of his 10 career starts in the playoffs. I guess there’s a reason Jeremy Swayman got the nod last year. If this trend continues, this could potentially be a quick Battle of Ontario. Berube said pre-game, the Senators are good at making you fight for every inch of ice against them. On Ekman-Larrsson’s goal, they left the middle wide open, same with Marner’s breakaway goal, so even though the Senators don’t give up much space, the Leafs capitalized on mistakes twice in the first period. Tonight was the playoff debut for a lot of the Senators’ young guys. Leafs fans in the arena voiced their opinion on Brady Tkachuk by chanting “Brady sucks” periodically throughout the game. Also, Tim Stutzle played his playoff debut, finishing with nine hits, which is a little bizarre given his play style. What this core is supposed to do If the forty million four play like they did tonight for the rest of the series, the Senators may be in trouble. Senators coach Travis Green said a focus for Ottawa was not taking penalties, and the Leafs power play showed us why that’s important. Nylander prides himself on thriving under pressure, when the lights are the brightest. Tonight, he lived up to it with a goal and an assist. Imagine how the Boston series would’ve gone last year if he were healthy. As for Matthews, on TSN’s Bardown Instagram, he was called “The Kirk Cousins of the NHL.” If he and the rest of the core continue to play the way they did tonight, he’ll silence those allegations pretty quickly. Recently, he’s gotten comparisons to Alex Ovechkin, and it took Ovi 14 years to finally win a Cup. And he had similar struggles with Pittsburgh as Matthews has had with Boston. Marner is almost a point per game in his career in the playoffs, and the Leafs will need more of that this year. In 2022, against Boston, he was the leading scorer. Even though the Leafs lost that series, Marner put up eight points in seven games. His job is to score, and they can’t beat Ottawa without him. Tavares, even though he’s getting up there in age, brings a veteran presence for a potentially deep playoff run. He’s been clutch in the playoffs throughout his career, scoring big goals. To quote every sports coach ever, “big time players make big time plays in big time games,” and the Leafs need all four of the big boys to drive the bus if they want to win this year. Is this year different? Under Kyle Dubas, the Leafs were notorious for running it back with the same team year after year, and it always ended in the same fashion. It was consistently a “there’s always next year” mentality; however, that isn’t always the case. When teams lose in the Stanley Cup Final, they always say things like, “We’ll be back.” However, it demands a lot of players physically and mentally to make a Cup run. In all honesty, this is the best team Toronto has had in a while. And if the big boys can produce, and they get the depth guys playing well (and of course, the biggest part of a postseason run: goaltending), get ready for a fun couple weeks! Going into tonight, the Leafs were 2–6 in first-round Game 1’s in the Auston Matthews era. Leafs fans hope this is the start of a trend of different results this spring.