The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to buck their abysmal elimination-game record and clinch the playoff series against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, May 1. The Leafs won the Atlantic Division title and sprinted to a 3-0 lead in the playoffs, only to drop the next two games, leaving the “Battle of Ontario” tied at 3-2.
The Senators, playing on home ice, will try to ramp up the pressure on the Maple Leafs, who have won just one of their last 13 playoff games in opportunities to eliminate opponents.
NHL Insider Sums Up Maple Leafs’ Efforts, Mentality Ahead of Game 6
Former Maple Leafs player and NHL analyst Paul Bissonnette didn’t hold back while discussing Toronto’s situation on “The Leafs Nation” podcast.
“They laid an egg. Yeah, they took a dump. I don’t know, I wasn’t crazy about the effort. But hey, they have another opportunity tonight to prove us wrong and show us that it’s different. They kind of put themselves in this situation,” Bissonnette said.
"They laid an egg. Yeah, they took a dump. I don't know, I wasn't crazy about the effort. But hey, they have another opportunity tonight to prove us wrong.."
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— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) May 1, 2025
Bissonnette was talking about Game 5 of the series, played Monday, April 28. The Senators continued their comeback with a 4-0 shutout. Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark made 29 saves, including key 1-on-1 stops against Maple Leafs forwards John Tavares and Mitch Marner.
Ullmark had drawn criticism for his play in the team’s three straight losses earlier in the series, but his bounce-back performance served as a strong response.
“I don’t really read media nowadays, something I learned throughout my career,” Ullmark said via NHL.com. “It doesn’t really matter what [outsiders] say. It’s about what’s being said in the locker room and what we need to be doing. There’s always going to be people doubting you and there’s always going to be people who have your back. That’s one of the reasons I stay away from it. You have to focus on one game at a time.”
On the podcast, Bissonnette added that the Leafs’ overall play hasn’t been bad and suggested their struggles might be more mental than physical.
“I didn’t think they were too bad in Game 4, though. I thought they were solid. I thought it was probably their second-best overall effort in the series so far, obviously Game 1 being their best,” Bissonnette said.
“If tonight doesn’t go well, you have to just assume it’s a mental block in these elimination games. You try, at their level and their profession, to ignore the outside noise, but maybe that’s not the case. Maybe they do look at their phones, I guess.”
Most of the pressure is on the Maple Leafs, especially their star forward quartet — Auston Matthews, Marner, William Nylander, and Tavares — dubbed the Core Four. But team coach Craig Berube said the responsibility for the two losses falls on everyone.
“It’s on everybody on the team,” Berube said via LeafsNation.com. “I get it. That’s all I hear around here: core, core, core, the Core Four. But it’s on everybody on the team. We’re a team — it’s on the whole team. It’s not just four guys.”