The History of the Battle of Ontario

This should come with a warning- the following article might put Ottawa Senators fans in a bad mood. There’s a famous quote, though- “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” With that in mind, hopefully Travis Green and Daniel Alfredsson can tell the players all about it. As for the fans, it’s been 21 years since the last Battle of Ontario in the playoffs. That means there’s a portion of the fanbase that aren’t old enough to remember those battles. So, why not take a trip down memory lane and dive into the history of the Battle of Ontario!

READ MORE: Breaking Down the Battle of Ontario

1999-2000: Round One, Maple Leafs Win in Six

The Leafs were the third seed in the East, coming off a trip to the Conference Finals. This was the season that the Sens had traded for Tom Barrasso. He was outplayed by Curtis Joseph, who had a shutout in game one, and then gave up just three goals in games five and six combined, all the while making 73 saves.

The key moment in the series? Steve Thomas’ overtime winner in game five to put the Leafs up three games to two. He was the star of the series, scoring six goals and seven points. Of course, this was also the year that Alexei Yashin didn’t play due to a contract dispute. Surely with him in the lineup, the Sens would be able to beat the Leafs, right?

2000-01: Round One, Maple Leafs Win in Four

This was the most embarrassing loss for Ottawa. The Senators had 109 points during this season, landing them the second seed in the East. The Maple Leafs were 19 points behind. The Senators scored 274 goals in the regular season, the third most in the NHL. They were then completely shut down in this series, scoring just three goals in the sweep. Curtis Joseph was the star of the series, saving 120 of the 123 shots he faced. Patrick Lalime did not have a great series, giving up 10 goals on 99 shots.

The key moment was in game one. It was pivotal for the Sens to start the series strong. The Senators did manage 36 shots, but none of them went in, and they also went scoreless in six power play opportunities. Then it was Mats Sundin scoring the overtime winner, putting the Leafs up in the series, on their way to a sweep. The key matchup that the Leafs dominated was Shayne Corson shutting down Alexei Yashin, who had just one assist in the four games, his last ever games with the Sens.

2001-02: Round Two, Maple Leafs Win in Seven

The Senators were the seventh seed during this season while the Maple Leafs were fourth. That meant no first round matchup. Instead, the Senators played the second seed Philadelphia Flyers. Patrick Lalime was unbelievable in that series, giving up just two goals in the five game series. He posted back-to-back-to-back shutouts in games two, three, and four. That set up the Sens for a second round matchup against the Leafs. In the Leafs first round matchup against the New York Islanders, Mats Sundin suffered a wrist injury that would keep him out of the second round series.

Lalime’s dominance would continue with a game one shutout. Game two went to triple overtime. Curtis Joseph made 54 saves. Then, it was Gary Roberts who won it for Toronto to tie the series. The Senators bounced back, though, eventually going up 3-2 in the series. Game five was the famous win led by Daniel Alfredsson, who threw a completely clean hit on Darcy Tucker in the third period and then scored the game winner.

Game six, in Ottawa, was 3-3 in the third period. That’s when Alex Mogilny scored the eventual game winner, sending the series back to Toronto. In game seven, as he had done time and time again, Curtis Joseph came up big. He shut out the Sens as the Leafs won 3-0. As far as an unlikely hero, Alyn McCauley replaced Mats Sundin with great success. In the final four games of the series, he scored seven points. The other star of the series was Gary Roberts, scoring five goals and 10 points and being forever remembered as an absolute pain in the Senators side.

2002-03: Despite No Playoff Battle, Rivalry Grows

Finally, a year went by when these two teams didn’t play each other. In 2002-03, the Senators worked their way to the Conference Finals while the Maple Leafs lost in the first round. Of course, that Conference Finals was as devastating a loss as the Senators have ever had, but let’s stay focused on the Battle of Ontario.

It was during a regular season game in March when the rivalry further intensified. There ended being 163 penalties minutes that night, a game in which the Senators won 4-1. You could probably guess who was involved. Partway through the third, Darcy Tucker decided to attack Chris Neil. The problem was that Tucker was on the ice while Neil was on the bench. This created a whole kerfuffle as you’d expect, with Tucker, Neil, and Shane Hnidy receiving game misconducts. Later in the game Tie Domi went after Magnus Arvedson of all people, who clearly did not want to fight. Domi threw several punches with his gloves on and was promptly kicked out of the game. In the end, Tucker was suspended for five games and Domi for three.

2003-04: Round One, Maple Leafs Win in Seven

A quick note about this season- Mats Sundin was suspended for a game after he threw his broken stick into the crowd. The game he was suspended for was against the Sens. In that game, Daniel Alfredsson faked throwing his broken stick into the crowd. Let’s just say the Leafs players and fanbase weren’t too happy. Once again, the rivalry turned up a notch.

This was an extremely tight year in the standings. The top six teams were separated by six points. The Senators finished the season with a 6-0 loss to Toronto. It was this loss that cost the Senators home ice advantage, and set them up to play the Leafs in the first round as the fifth seed. The good news was that Curtis Joseph had moved on to Detroit. The bad news was that his replacement, Ed Belfour, was a pretty good goalie in his own right.

The controversy in this series came from the lack of playing time for Jason Spezza. After scoring 55 points in 78 regular season games, Spezza only played games three, four, and five in this series, and was given under 10 minutes per game by Jacques Martin. Trailing the series 3-2, Mike Fisher played the role of hero with his game six overtime winner to force a game seven.

End of an Era

Then came a game that Senators fans will never forget. Patrick Lalime let in a couple of soft goals and the Sens offense struggled to produce in the 4-1 loss. The Leafs won this series despite Mats Sundin missing games five, six, and seven with injury. Joe Nieuwendyk led the way with five goals in six games, with two of them being the infamous weak goals on Lalime. That was the end of Lalime’s time in Ottawa. It was also the end for Jacques Martin. Peter Bondra, the big trade deadline acquisition, moved on as well after being held pointless during the seven game series. A few other key players that never played for the Sens again after this loss: Todd White, Radek Bonk, and of course, Marian Hossa.

So there you have it. The good news is that the Leafs went on to lose the next series after beating the Senators every single time. Since then, the teams have traded off being too bad to make the playoffs over the last two decades, but finally, the Battle of Ontario is back! Hopefully, there’s a role reversal this time around.