On the eve of the first Battle of Ontario playoff game, legendary Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn summed up expectations with a little understatement: 鈥淚t’ll be some fun, I hope.鈥
Over the course of four head-to-head playoff series over five years, it was a lot of fun for the Leafs, not so much for the Ottawa Senators.
Their playoff battle will resume again this weekend after a two-decade hiatus: the Leafs, first in the Atlantic Division, and the fourth-place Senators. But, first, a look back:
April 4-24, 2000: First round
Notably that season, the Leafs lost defenceman Bryan Berard to an eye injury off the stick of the Senators’ Marian Hossa in a regular-season game, Darcy Tucker was acquired in a February trade, and the Mats Sundin-led team finished with a then-team record 100 points to finish first in the Northeast Division.
The Senators were without their best player, Alexei Yashin, suspended the previous November in an elongated contract dispute.
The Leafs would dispatch the young, upstart Senators in six games, led by six goals from Steve Thomas and hot goaltending from Curtis Joseph, who allowed only 10 goals over six games.
The memorable moment? Joseph going berserk on referee Mick McGeough for not disallowing a goal 鈥 the winning goal in Game 3 鈥 over interference from Daniel Alfredsson. The Leaf goalie was given a 10-minute misconduct but there was no supplemental discipline, even though he bumped and took down the referee.
Senators fans were already complaining that “Hockey Night in Canada” favoured the Leafs. Now they felt the league did, as well.
鈥淲e were just fragile when they scored a goal or two,鈥 Senators forward Shawn McEachern said.
The Leafs would lose in the next round to the New Jersey Devils, the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
April 13-18, 2001: First round
That season was the first with the Leafs for Gary Roberts, Shayne Corson and Bryan McCabe. They beefed up by adding Wade Belak and Aki Berg near the trade deadline and finished with 90 points, good for third in the Northeast. It meant starting the playoffs on the road in Ottawa.
The Senators had won all five regular-season games against Toronto. With scorers like Yashin, McEachern, Hossa, Alfredsson and Radek Bonk up front, how could they lose? Well, Patrick Lalime had replaced Tom Barrasso in net.
Sundin, Roberts and Yanic Perreault each had two goals while Joseph allowed only three in what was a four-game sweep. Ottawa did not score until the second period of the third game.
鈥淚t’s particularly galling to lose to Toronto,鈥 said Rod Bryden, then the Senators’ principal owner.
The Leafs would lose again to New Jersey in the second round.
May 2-14, 2002: Second round
Alexander Mogilny, Robert Reichel, Mikael Renberg and a certain player who now coaches the Senators 鈥 Travis Green 鈥 were the new faces in Toronto. The Senators had traded Yashin for behemoth defenceman Zdeno Chara and a first-round pick that turned into Jason Spezza.
The Leafs had beaten Yashin and the Islanders in the first round while the Senators had taken down the Flyers. Toronto, which had 100 points to Ottawa’s 94 in the regular season, had home-ice advantage but was without Sundin (broken left wrist) and Renberg (pelvis).
But the Senators had never gotten over the embarrassing sweep the year before.
鈥淚’m sure that’s going to be in the backs of their minds,鈥 said enforcer Tie Domi, Max’s dad.
Alyn McCauley (three goals, four assists) looked comfortable as the No. 1 centre. Roberts was a monster with five goals and five assists. Green was a faceoff fiend for Toronto, winning 26 of 39 draws. The Senators had a 3-2 series lead, and led 2-0 in Game 6 when defenceman Ricard Persson slammed Domi into the boards to earn a five-minute major. The Leafs scored twice on the power play and rallied to win. Game 7 was a 3-0 shutout for Joseph.
鈥淚f Tie Domi had better balance, we would have won the series,鈥 Alfredsson said.
Cup fever, meanwhile, gripped Toronto.
鈥淚 don’t know what everyone is so excited about,鈥 Mogilny said. 鈥淲e’re only halfway there.鈥
The Leafs would fall in six games to Carolina in the Eastern Conference final.
April 8-20, 2004: First round
They skipped a year but met again in the first round of 2004, the fourth meeting in five years. Joe Nieuwendyk was now with the Leafs. Brian Leetch and Ron Francis were added at the trade deadline. Ed Belfour was in his second season, having replaced Joseph. Spezza was an underutilized young player for Ottawa.
Alfredsson had guaranteed the Senators would win the Stanley Cup and by now he was persona-non-grata in Toronto. He had knocked Tucker out of the 2002 series. And he had mocked Sundin earlier in the season by motioning to throw a broken stick into the crowd. Sundin had actually done that and earned a suspension.
The Senators outshot the Leafs 238-154 over the course of seven games, but Belfour was Belfour, a Vezina nominee at 39 years of age, and over the hill beat Parliament Hill.
The Leafs took it in seven games, with Nieuwendyk scoring a couple of softies in Game 7 that ended not just Lalime’s night but his time in Ottawa. The goalie coach, Phil Myre, was fired. So, too, was head coach Jacques Martin.
鈥淲e need to move in a different direction,鈥 Ottawa GM John Muckler said.
The Leafs would lose in the next round to Philadelphia, on Jeremy Roenick’s overtime dagger in Game 6.
鈥淭he Maple Leafs will always have that Battle of Ontario banner to cherish,鈥 wrote the Star’s Dave Perkins.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation