The Toronto Maple Leafs had the chance to close out their first-round series with the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at home, but they failed to do so, getting dominated 4-0 by the Sens. This Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup now heads back to the nation's capital, with the Leafs still up 3-2.
When asked if there is any concern in the locker room, Chris Tanev made it clear — Toronto isn't worried.
Via Chris Johnston:
“We're up 3-2 in the series. I think we're fine,” Tanev said.
That's certainly what every Maple Leafs fan wants to hear. However, the Atlantic Division winners played horribly in Game 5, failing to score a single goal on Linus Ullmark, who made 29 saves. Toronto had their fair share of opportunities but they couldn't beat the former Vezina Trophy winner.
Mitch Marner echoed Tanev's sentiment, voicing that the Leafs knew this series would be a dogfight either way:
“ I mean, we had our looks. Didn’t capitalize on them. That’s how it goes,” Marner said. “ We’ll look at what we can do better and figure it out.
“ Fine. It’s not supposed to be easy. This is never supposed to be easy,” the Maple Leafs star continued, when asked about his team’s level post-game, via Leafs Nation. “ We knew it was gonna be a challenge. We knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, they pushed back the last two games. We got to go into a building and play our best game. We’ve been a great road team all year, so we have confidence in this group.”
The Maple Leafs have played well on the road in 2024-25, posting a 25-13-3 record during the regular season away from Scotiabank Arena. However, there's no doubt this fanbase is panicking considering they were up 3-0 in the series.
Toronto must bring their best on Thursday, or else it'll mean a potential Game 7 in their arena on Saturday night.