The Toronto Maple Leafs just might be impacting your Easter weekend plans.
Toronto finalized its NHL playoff matchup against the Ottawa Senators by way of beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 Tuesday night en route to an Atlantic Division-clinching win.
The Maple Leafs haven’t won a whole lot of divisions in their history, with their Atlantic Division crown being just the sixth time in 107 seasons that they’ve been on top.
Toronto has home ice for the series, meaning they’ll host at least Game 1 and Game 2, while also potentially hosting Game 5 and Game 7, should the series require them.
With the NHL playoffs slated to start this Saturday, April 19, no schedule has been officially released yet for when the 16 teams will begin vying for the Stanley Cup.
But as per a few reports, including one from NHL Insider Chris Johnston earlier this week on TSN 1050, the Leafs are expected to start their series this Sunday, April 20.
With a short travel distance between the two cities of Toronto and Ottawa, one day between games is to be expected for the series.
If the NHL sticks to that schedule, here’s how things would shake out for the first Battle of Ontario since 2004:
- Game 1: Sunday, April 20, Ottawa at Toronto
- Game 2: Tuesday, April 22, Ottawa at Toronto
- Game 3: Thursday, April 24, Toronto at Ottawa
- Game 4: Saturday, April 26, Toronto at Ottawa
- Game 5: Monday, April 28, Ottawa at Toronto
- Game 6: Wednesday, April 30, Toronto at Ottawa
- Game 7: Friday, May 2, Ottawa at Toronto
In some series, the NHL will add an extra day or two in between games, making it possible, for example, to place the potential Game 7 on Saturday, May 3, to maximize viewership.
Both Scotiabank Arena and Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa have wide open schedules over the next few weeks, so the NHL has quite a bit of flexibility to play with.
Another factor to consider is the Montreal Canadiens, who can clinch a playoff spot tonight with just a single point, but could also be overtaken by the Columbus Blue Jackets if they lose in regulation and the Blue Jackets win in regulation tomorrow against the New York Islanders.
One of those two teams will take on the Washington Capitals.
As posited by Johnston (and as common sense would suggest), playing the Leafs and Canadiens on the same night in the same time zone would cause a large split in the audience of Canada’s two biggest hockey teams.
In the other Eastern Conference series, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will be facing off, as will the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils.
In any case, with the NHL regular season wrapping up tomorrow, we should get a good idea pretty soon of what the full NHL playoff schedule will look like.
Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
