Tavares on Battle of Ontario memories: ‘Some great hockey, some emotional games’

Two of the series went seven games, one went six, and another ended in a sweep during a period where opposing fans regularly cursed names like Darcy Tucker and Daniel Alfredsson.

“It was obviously very intense,” Tavares recalled after practice Friday. “Being division opponents in the same province, you develop that type of bad blood over the years.

“Just some great hockey, some emotional games, some big goals.”

But Toronto went on to miss the post-season 10 of the next 11 years following the 2004-05 lockout, while Ottawa made the playoffs seven times, including a run to the Cup final in 2007, causing the rivalry to fizzle somewhat.

The teams are now at opposite ends of the spectrum ahead of the first meeting of 2018-19, but Leafs head coach Mike Babcock will be looking for a lot more from his players after Wednesday’s lacklustre 3-2 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens on opening night.

“You’re going to get a challenge,” he said. “Teams aren’t coming in here to lose.

“Everybody at this time of the year is real confident in their team and feeling good about themselves.”

Montreal’s roster devoid of stars, save for goalie Carey Price, outworked Toronto for much Wednesday and probably felt unlucky to not come away with both points.

“We’ve got to get confidence by being better through the neutral zone with the puck, by being harder on the other team in the offensive zone, spending more time there, so it’s easier for our defence to execute,” Babcock said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that (against Montreal) and made it hard for ourselves.”

The Senators, meanwhile, played an inspired first game at home on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks before falling 4-3 in overtime.

Ottawa’s youngsters showed their speed and exuberance, but failed to capitalize on chances to put the Blackhawks away before getting exposed defensively and blowing a 3-2 third-period lead.

“It’s the NHL so you’re never really playing a bad team,” Toronto said centre Auston Matthews said of Saturday’s matchup. “Guys are NHL players, they work hard and you’ve got to come prepared.”

Leafs defencemen Morgan Rielly, Ron Hainsey and Jake Gardiner all had rough nights against the Canadiens, but Babcock said the whole group was to blame on a night where Montreal held a 76-60 edge in shot attempts.

“Our defence is just fine,” said the coach. “But I can tell you this right now, if you never play in the offensive zone, if you don’t put any pressure on the other team’s defence, your defence never looks very good.

“That’s a five-man unit that’s got to make that happen, and that didn’t happen.”

Matthews, who scored two laser-beam goals against Montreal, said the Leafs need to get back to making the right play and taking care of the puck.

“We’ve got to be better, get the puck in their zone, establish offence,” he said. “We can focus on working harder, but at the same time I think working smarter is probably a better-case scenario for us.”

After hosting Ottawa, Toronto travels to Chicago for the second of a back-to-back on Sunday before three more games on the road against Dallas, Detroit and Washington.

“We got the result (against Montreal) we wanted at the end of the day, so that’s what matters most,” Tavares said. “Feel like we’ve still got a few more notches we want to get to.”

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Tavares on Battle of Ontario memories: ‘Some great hockey, some emotional games’

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