<p>KANATA — For the first time in the Auston Matthews era, the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> hold a 2-0 commanding series lead, and they&#8217;ll be poised to end the Battle of Ontario by the weekend with a win in Wednesday&#8217;s Game 3.</p>
<p><a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-max-domi-ot-winner-game-2-just-getting-started">Max Domi</a> scored the overtime winner in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/5-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-ottawa-senators-game-2-domi-delivers-playoff-rielly-back-stolarz-heroic">Game 2</a>, as the Maple Leafs asserted its status as the favourite over a Senators team that doesn&#8217;t look ready for the moment. So without further ado or provocation, here are five key reasons why the Maple Leafs hold a 2-0 series lead, with no imminent signs of looking back.</p>
<h3>Anthony Stolarz has significantly outplayed Linus Ullmark</h3>
<p><a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/anthony-stolarz-reflects-ot-win-clashes-ridly-greig-mindset-game-3-ottawa-senators">Anthony Stolarz</a> was the main reason why the Maple Leafs won Game 2 and he remains on fire, winning his past 10 starts dating back to the regular season. Stolarz was excellent in Game 1, although he struggled with his rebound control, but he was stellar again in Game 2, and he&#8217;s saved 2.8 goals above expected through two games. Ullmark was pestered throughout Game 1 in a weak performance, where he didn&#8217;t give the Senators much to work with, and he&#8217;s saved -3.98 goals above expected through two games. The former Vezina Trophy winner was hounded with &#8216;ULLMARK!&#8217; chants throughout Game 1, and he hasn&#8217;t given his team much of a chance to compete with a Maple Leafs team that is more talented and more experienced across the board.</p>
<p>Stolarz is providing the Maple Leafs with the best goaltending they&#8217;ve received of this era, but he&#8217;s also benefitting from stellar team defence, where the team is making few mistakes in their own. This clearly carries into the next point, where the Senators&#8217; faithful have tried to justify their team&#8217;s performance through advanced stats.</p>
<h3>Maple Leafs&#8217; quality of chances are much better than Senators&#8217; empty volume</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/how-torontos-game-plan-has-been-working-so-far/">Sportsnet&#8217;s Justin Bourne</a> wrote an excellent piece Tuesday detailing what the Leafs have done well, while bringing some fluency to the advanced starts part of the debate. It&#8217;s clear from the eye test that the Leafs are winning <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-win-one-battle-after-another-opening-game-blowout?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">one battle after another</a> and looking at expected goals, shot attempts and shot differential as a catch-all is just misleading. Ottawa isn&#8217;t generating quality looks, but it is forcing up shots from wherever it can launch them inside the offensive zone, as Toronto&#8217;s defenders are doing a great job of forcing its opponent to the outside.</p>
<p>There have been more than a few sequences during the series where the Senators have hemmed the Maple Leafs in, but do nothing with the possession other than waste time, ostensibly looking for a clean look at the net. Under head coach Craig Berube&#8217;s supervision, the Maple Leafs are designed to swat pucks away from the net-front and facilitate easy exits. There&#8217;s real desperation coming from the Senators, where the Leafs are finding their looks naturally, and are winning in transition at 5-on-5: Oliver Ekman-Larsson&#8217;s opening goal in Game 1 and Domi&#8217;s overtime winner in Game 2 are prime examples of the Leafs taking what the game brings them and then imposing their will on the counterattack, where the Senators seem flummoxed.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">MAX DOMI IS A TORONTO MAPLE LEAF!!!!!!!</p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/nQWHTEX0FT">pic.twitter.com/nQWHTEX0FT</a></p>
<p>&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914872213221556369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3>Simon Benoit highlights Leafs&#8217; superior depth contributions</h3>
<p>Depth scoring was an issue for the Maple Leafs all season, and the popular thinking suggested that they would win this series largely due to the strength of their superior high-end talent, along with Stolarz remaining on fire. While Stolarz has surely outplayed Ullmark, and the Core Four — the Core Five, really, if you count Matthew Knies — are cooking the Senators on the power play, they&#8217;re also getting superior contributions from their depth players as well.</p>
<p>Simon Benoit ended the regular season, playing his best hockey from the team&#8217;s late-March road trip to California and his run of form has continued into the playoffs. Benoit has been great off rush scenarios, where he struggled early in the season, he&#8217;s playing with real physicality, and he&#8217;s making smart reads. The clear example was when Benoit picked off Drake Batherson to cut up the ice, dropped a pass to Domi and instead of retreating, he continued his drive to the net, perhaps forcing the Senators to account for him at the back post, before Domi wired home the game-winner. He&#8217;s been excellent through the first two games, while his partner Ekman-Larsson has scored, provided physicality and leads the Maple Leafs with a 55 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5.</p>
<p>Pontus Holmberg is also doing well on the second line for the Leafs, keeping pucks alive, while drawing penalties. Holmberg led the Leafs in drawn penalties during the regular season and that&#8217;s perhaps where his true value lies overall, but he was getting shots on net, and providing solid defensive impact, while John Tavares and William Nylander worked their two-man game. The 26-year-old drew praise from <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/craig-berube-pontus-holmberg-reached-level-following-promotion">Craig Berube during Wednesday&#8217;s media availability</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;He’s very good at that, one of the best. I talk about Pontus, and to me, his game has gone to another level in the last 20 [games] or so, where he’s way more aggressive. Like I said, he has the ability to hang onto pucks and keep pucks and win battles, but for me, the skating part of it has gone to another level,&#8221; Berube said of Holmberg.</p>
<p>Ottawa hasn&#8217;t received this level of depth contribution at all. Adam Gaudette expertly tipped home a shot past Stolarz in Game 2, but hasn&#8217;t meaningfully impacted play otherwise. Ridly Greig&#8217;s antics are perhaps a distraction to his own team, as the Maple Leafs have phased him out entirely, while he&#8217;s getting beaten up by Stolarz in the crease. Jake Sanderson has done his part for the Senators, but it can&#8217;t be a one-man show, or else the Leafs are heading for a sweep.</p>
<h3>Maple Leafs&#8217; power play is scorching the Senators with quick resets</h3>
<p>Toronto boasted the second-best power play in the NHL after February 1, and it was largely because of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/resetting-top-essential-toronto-maple-leafs-scorching-power-play">resets at the top</a>. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mitch-marner-toronto-maple-leafs-improve-offensive-zone-senators">Mitch Marner</a> worked the puck around, while Matthew Knies and John Tavares create havoc at the net-front, while Auston Matthews and William Nylander look for optimal shooting lanes inside the circles. This time around, the Maple Leafs are winning quickly off faceoffs, with Tavares getting the puck back to Marner, who engineers the five-forward unit into motion. Perhaps the clearest example of this when Matthew Knies scored late in the third period in Game 1, where Tavares won the faceoff, Marner surveyed the ice and took a shot from the point, before Auston Matthews and Knies went to work on the rebound.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="nl" dir="ltr">VERY KNIES! 6-2!</p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/E8gX2BmsC7">pic.twitter.com/E8gX2BmsC7</a></p>
<p>&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914130618306224584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The resets to Marner will allow him to find space, and it&#8217;s allowing Tavares to work his way from the bumper, back to the side wall, where he can search for Knies crashing low. Tavares&#8217; power play goal — a guided pass that hit Nick Jensen in the skates and in — in Game 2, is a clear example.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">JT on the PP makes it 2-0!</p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/nnLGzVmVOT">pic.twitter.com/nnLGzVmVOT</a></p>
<p>&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914831425238421663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Ottawa doesn&#8217;t have an answer for Toronto&#8217;s power play, where the processing speed is moving too quickly for it to catch up. Toronto is attacking with precision, and the Core Five are winning their matchups handily, both at 5-on-5 and with the man advantage.</p>
<h3>The return of Playoff Rielly</h3>
<p>Morgan Rielly often struggled during the regular season and some people wanted to write a definitive conclusion about the Leafs&#8217; longest-tenured player. Rielly particularly struggled off the rush but he was also paired with several different partners throughout the year, before finding a mutually beneficial setup alongside trade deadline acquisition Brandon Carlo. He&#8217;s displayed a penchant for elevating his game during the playoffs and through two games, Playoff Rielly is all the way back.</p>
<p>Rielly has goals in consecutive games, opening the scoring in Game 2, with a clever pinch down low, as William Nylander&#8217;s cross-ice feed hit his skate and went in. He&#8217;s been opportunistic throughout the first two contests without giving up position and has been soundly rewarded for it.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">MORGAN RIELLY OPENS THE SCORING!</p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/nEaQI2bCa5">pic.twitter.com/nEaQI2bCa5</a></p>
<p>&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914828502463021318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Toronto controlled Game 1, and there was a brief concern that Ottawa would fight its way back into the contest, but Rielly restored the three-goal lead with a well-placed wrist shot in the third period, although we have to mention that it was a soft goal for Ullmark to concede.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">RIELLY GETS ONE RIGHT BACK  </p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/11NFzMLVWM">pic.twitter.com/11NFzMLVWM</a></p>
<p>&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914126204904386604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Rielly is well-suited for this new role as a true No. 4 and he doesn&#8217;t have to face the opponent&#8217;s best players, with Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev tasked with keeping eyes on the Brady Tkachuk line. He&#8217;s thriving during the first two games of the postseason and a resurgent spring from Rielly could put the Leafs over the top.</p>
<h4>Sponsored by bet365</h4>
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KANATA — For the first time in the Auston Matthews era, the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> hold a 2-0 commanding series lead, and they'll be poised to end the Battle of Ontario by the weekend with a win in Wednesday's Game 3.

<a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-max-domi-ot-winner-game-2-just-getting-started">Max Domi</a> scored the overtime winner in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/5-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-ottawa-senators-game-2-domi-delivers-playoff-rielly-back-stolarz-heroic">Game 2</a>, as the Maple Leafs asserted its status as the favourite over a Senators team that doesn't look ready for the moment. So without further ado or provocation, here are five key reasons why the Maple Leafs hold a 2-0 series lead, with no imminent signs of looking back.
<h3>Anthony Stolarz has significantly outplayed Linus Ullmark</h3>
<a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/anthony-stolarz-reflects-ot-win-clashes-ridly-greig-mindset-game-3-ottawa-senators">Anthony Stolarz</a> was the main reason why the Maple Leafs won Game 2 and he remains on fire, winning his past 10 starts dating back to the regular season. Stolarz was excellent in Game 1, although he struggled with his rebound control, but he was stellar again in Game 2, and he's saved 2.8 goals above expected through two games. Ullmark was pestered throughout Game 1 in a weak performance, where he didn't give the Senators much to work with, and he's saved -3.98 goals above expected through two games. The former Vezina Trophy winner was hounded with 'ULLMARK!' chants throughout Game 1, and he hasn't given his team much of a chance to compete with a Maple Leafs team that is more talented and more experienced across the board.

Stolarz is providing the Maple Leafs with the best goaltending they've received of this era, but he's also benefitting from stellar team defence, where the team is making few mistakes in their own. This clearly carries into the next point, where the Senators' faithful have tried to justify their team's performance through advanced stats.
<h3>Maple Leafs' quality of chances are much better than Senators' empty volume</h3>
<a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/how-torontos-game-plan-has-been-working-so-far/">Sportsnet's Justin Bourne</a> wrote an excellent piece Tuesday detailing what the Leafs have done well, while bringing some fluency to the advanced starts part of the debate. It's clear from the eye test that the Leafs are winning <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-win-one-battle-after-another-opening-game-blowout?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">one battle after another</a> and looking at expected goals, shot attempts and shot differential as a catch-all is just misleading. Ottawa isn't generating quality looks, but it is forcing up shots from wherever it can launch them inside the offensive zone, as Toronto's defenders are doing a great job of forcing its opponent to the outside.

There have been more than a few sequences during the series where the Senators have hemmed the Maple Leafs in, but do nothing with the possession other than waste time, ostensibly looking for a clean look at the net. Under head coach Craig Berube's supervision, the Maple Leafs are designed to swat pucks away from the net-front and facilitate easy exits. There's real desperation coming from the Senators, where the Leafs are finding their looks naturally, and are winning in transition at 5-on-5: Oliver Ekman-Larsson's opening goal in Game 1 and Domi's overtime winner in Game 2 are prime examples of the Leafs taking what the game brings them and then imposing their will on the counterattack, where the Senators seem flummoxed.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914872213221556369
<h3>Simon Benoit highlights Leafs' superior depth contributions</h3>
Depth scoring was an issue for the Maple Leafs all season, and the popular thinking suggested that they would win this series largely due to the strength of their superior high-end talent, along with Stolarz remaining on fire. While Stolarz has surely outplayed Ullmark, and the Core Four — the Core Five, really, if you count Matthew Knies — are cooking the Senators on the power play, they're also getting superior contributions from their depth players as well.

Simon Benoit ended the regular season, playing his best hockey from the team's late-March road trip to California and his run of form has continued into the playoffs. Benoit has been great off rush scenarios, where he struggled early in the season, he's playing with real physicality, and he's making smart reads. The clear example was when Benoit picked off Drake Batherson to cut up the ice, dropped a pass to Domi and instead of retreating, he continued his drive to the net, perhaps forcing the Senators to account for him at the back post, before Domi wired home the game-winner. He's been excellent through the first two games, while his partner Ekman-Larsson has scored, provided physicality and leads the Maple Leafs with a 55 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5.

Pontus Holmberg is also doing well on the second line for the Leafs, keeping pucks alive, while drawing penalties. Holmberg led the Leafs in drawn penalties during the regular season and that's perhaps where his true value lies overall, but he was getting shots on net, and providing solid defensive impact, while John Tavares and William Nylander worked their two-man game. The 26-year-old drew praise from <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/craig-berube-pontus-holmberg-reached-level-following-promotion">Craig Berube during Wednesday's media availability</a>.

"He’s very good at that, one of the best. I talk about Pontus, and to me, his game has gone to another level in the last 20 [games] or so, where he’s way more aggressive. Like I said, he has the ability to hang onto pucks and keep pucks and win battles, but for me, the skating part of it has gone to another level," Berube said of Holmberg.

Ottawa hasn't received this level of depth contribution at all. Adam Gaudette expertly tipped home a shot past Stolarz in Game 2, but hasn't meaningfully impacted play otherwise. Ridly Greig's antics are perhaps a distraction to his own team, as the Maple Leafs have phased him out entirely, while he's getting beaten up by Stolarz in the crease. Jake Sanderson has done his part for the Senators, but it can't be a one-man show, or else the Leafs are heading for a sweep.
<h3>Maple Leafs' power play is scorching the Senators with quick resets</h3>
Toronto boasted the second-best power play in the NHL after February 1, and it was largely because of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/resetting-top-essential-toronto-maple-leafs-scorching-power-play">resets at the top</a>. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mitch-marner-toronto-maple-leafs-improve-offensive-zone-senators">Mitch Marner</a> worked the puck around, while Matthew Knies and John Tavares create havoc at the net-front, while Auston Matthews and William Nylander look for optimal shooting lanes inside the circles. This time around, the Maple Leafs are winning quickly off faceoffs, with Tavares getting the puck back to Marner, who engineers the five-forward unit into motion. Perhaps the clearest example of this when Matthew Knies scored late in the third period in Game 1, where Tavares won the faceoff, Marner surveyed the ice and took a shot from the point, before Auston Matthews and Knies went to work on the rebound.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914130618306224584

The resets to Marner will allow him to find space, and it's allowing Tavares to work his way from the bumper, back to the side wall, where he can search for Knies crashing low. Tavares' power play goal — a guided pass that hit Nick Jensen in the skates and in — in Game 2, is a clear example.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914831425238421663

Ottawa doesn't have an answer for Toronto's power play, where the processing speed is moving too quickly for it to catch up. Toronto is attacking with precision, and the Core Five are winning their matchups handily, both at 5-on-5 and with the man advantage.
<h3>The return of Playoff Rielly</h3>
Morgan Rielly often struggled during the regular season and some people wanted to write a definitive conclusion about the Leafs' longest-tenured player. Rielly particularly struggled off the rush but he was also paired with several different partners throughout the year, before finding a mutually beneficial setup alongside trade deadline acquisition Brandon Carlo. He's displayed a penchant for elevating his game during the playoffs and through two games, Playoff Rielly is all the way back.

Rielly has goals in consecutive games, opening the scoring in Game 2, with a clever pinch down low, as William Nylander's cross-ice feed hit his skate and went in. He's been opportunistic throughout the first two contests without giving up position and has been soundly rewarded for it.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914828502463021318

Toronto controlled Game 1, and there was a brief concern that Ottawa would fight its way back into the contest, but Rielly restored the three-goal lead with a well-placed wrist shot in the third period, although we have to mention that it was a soft goal for Ullmark to concede.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1914126204904386604

Rielly is well-suited for this new role as a true No. 4 and he doesn't have to face the opponent's best players, with Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev tasked with keeping eyes on the Brady Tkachuk line. He's thriving during the first two games of the postseason and a resurgent spring from Rielly could put the Leafs over the top.
<h4>Sponsored by bet365</h4>
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