It hasn&#8217;t taken long at all for Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig to become public enemy number 1 in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> territory.
He was touted as the type of player you love to have on your team and hate to play against when he was drafted, and he wasted no time getting into the mix of the Leafs/Senators rivalry. It started with the infamous slap shot into the Leafs&#8217; empty net last season, resulting in a cross-check from Morgan Rielly and subsequent suspension for the retaliation, and to nobody&#8217;s surprise, he&#8217;s back to his antics in the playoffs.
It started with a slide into Anthony Stolarz while driving the net, shaking Stolarz up briefly. He also threw a cross-check to the face of John Tavares and drew the attention of Matthew Knies, among others.
It seems that Stolarz didn&#8217;t forget about his interaction with Greig going into Game 2.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Anthony Stolarz lets Ridly Greig know he doesn’t like him hanging around the crease 😳 <a href="https://t.co/MCUAQSzB4C">pic.twitter.com/MCUAQSzB4C</a>
&mdash; Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1914843928748044572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Despite Stolarz committing 95% of the stick infractions there, the interaction somehow landed both players with a roughing penalty. The louder-than-usual Scotiabank Arena crowd erupted with applause upon the announcement of the Stolarz penalty, and the Leafs were able to finish killing the penalty they took minutes before it.
Former Maple Leafs goaltender Eddie Belfour, who knows the Battle of Ontario as well as the next guy, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDMg7S6w7Gs">said that he would have</a> taken a more, well, physical approach on Greig after he slid into Stolarz.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
How would&#39;ve Eddie Belfour reacted to the Ridly Greig play?
&quot;I&#39;m gonna blocker the guy right in the face as hard as I can..&quot;
🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅 <a href="https://t.co/u9PazYvozf">https://t.co/u9PazYvozf</a> <a href="https://t.co/RfqiVOTwTN">pic.twitter.com/RfqiVOTwTN</a>
&mdash; Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) <a href="https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy/status/1914366424870445139?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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With 31 saves in Sunday&#8217;s Game 1 win, Stolarz has showed up to the series with authority. He spoke in the days leading up to the playoffs about his preparation for what was his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut, noting that it was going to <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/anthony-stolarz-battle-of-ontario-going-to-be-bloodbath">be a physical series</a> from start to finish.
“It’ll be fun, for sure,” Stolarz said. “They’re a hungry team. I just think we have to continue to do what we’re doing right now. I think we feel good about our game. It’s going to be a bloodbath, it’s going to be a little bit of a war, so we’ll be ready.”
The Battle of Ontario will continue on Thursday night when the teams head back to Ottawa for Game 3.

It hasn't taken long at all for Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig to become public enemy number 1 in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> territory.

He was touted as the type of player you love to have on your team and hate to play against when he was drafted, and he wasted no time getting into the mix of the Leafs/Senators rivalry. It started with the infamous slap shot into the Leafs' empty net last season, resulting in a cross-check from Morgan Rielly and subsequent suspension for the retaliation, and to nobody's surprise, he's back to his antics in the playoffs.

It started with a slide into Anthony Stolarz while driving the net, shaking Stolarz up briefly. He also threw a cross-check to the face of John Tavares and drew the attention of Matthew Knies, among others.

It seems that Stolarz didn't forget about his interaction with Greig going into Game 2.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1914843928748044572

Despite Stolarz committing 95% of the stick infractions there, the interaction somehow landed both players with a roughing penalty. The louder-than-usual Scotiabank Arena crowd erupted with applause upon the announcement of the Stolarz penalty, and the Leafs were able to finish killing the penalty they took minutes before it.

Former Maple Leafs goaltender Eddie Belfour, who knows the Battle of Ontario as well as the next guy, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDMg7S6w7Gs">said that he would have</a> taken a more, well, physical approach on Greig after he slid into Stolarz.

https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy/status/1914366424870445139

With 31 saves in Sunday's Game 1 win, Stolarz has showed up to the series with authority. He spoke in the days leading up to the playoffs about his preparation for what was his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut, noting that it was going to <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/anthony-stolarz-battle-of-ontario-going-to-be-bloodbath">be a physical series</a> from start to finish.

“It’ll be fun, for sure,” Stolarz said. “They’re a hungry team. I just think we have to continue to do what we’re doing right now. I think we feel good about our game. It’s going to be a bloodbath, it’s going to be a little bit of a war, so we’ll be ready.”

The Battle of Ontario will continue on Thursday night when the teams head back to Ottawa for Game 3.

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