Rough-and-tumble history of the Battle of Ontario gets reset as Toronto, Ottawa meet in playoffs

TORONTO (AP) — John Tavares remembers watching as a young hockey player dreaming of the big stage. Auston Matthews has seen the highlights and heard the stories. The run-through-a-wall passion. The crackling atmosphere. The tension and drama.

The Battle of Ontario was among hockey’s biggest rivalries for a time. The dormant dogfight is set to reignite anew.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators open their first-round NHL playoff series Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena, the first postseason meeting between the provincial opponents since those heated clashes more than two decades ago.

“Great battles,” Tavares said. “Great teams going at it.”

The veteran center from just west of Toronto in Oakville was on the edge of his seat supporting the team in blue and white as the Leafs beat the Senators four times in the playoffs between 2000 and 2004, including two Game 7 victories.

“The intensity was pretty unbelievable,” Tavares added.

Matthews grew up in Arizona, but knows all about the history.

“The Battle of Ontario speaks for itself,” the Toronto captain said, according to Canadian Press. “Two very proud cities, proud franchises. We know what we’re in for.”

Toronto made the playoffs for a ninth straight year, but has just one series victory in the NHL’s salary cap era. Ottawa is back in the postseason for the first time since 2017 after finally emerging from a long rebuild.

“Something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, a playoff freshman. “Only fitting it’s the Battle of Ontario.”

Toronto won the Atlantic Division with firepower up front led by Matthews, Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. Chris Tanev and trade deadline addition Brandon Carlo bolstered the defense, while goaltender Anthony Stolarz had eight straight wins to end the regular season.

Toronto hired coach Craig Berube in hopes that his direct, north-south style will get a talented group with a long list of spring flops over its playoff hump.

“It’s about us,” said Berube, who hoisted the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “It really boils down to our team and the commitment and the battle we’ll need.”

The Senators are a young group led by Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle up front, with veterans sprinkled throughout a lineup that grabbed the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. Budding star Jake Sanderson leads the defense but perhaps the biggest reason for the team’s playoff return is in goal, where Linus Ullmar has steadied things.

Ottawa coach Travis Green, who like Berube is in his first season, has brought accountability and structure to the Senators. He was part of the original Battle of Ontario in his playing days, including the infamous 2003 regular-season brawl that saw Leafs enforcer Darcy Tucker try to fight the Senators bench.

“It’s real,” Green said of the animosity. “There’s been a lot historical moments, historical series. It was very intense. It’s exciting for the province and exciting for the players.”

While the teams haven’t met in the postseason in years, recent fireworks include Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly's five-game suspension in February 2024 for a cross-check on Ridly Greig. Toronto fans have also continued the tradition of packing Ottawa's home rink.

The Senators were 3-0-0 against the Leafs during the regular season, including road victories of 3-0 and 4-2.

Toronto and Ottawa last met in the playoffs on April 20, 2004 — Sunday’s series opener marks the 21st anniversary — when Senators netminder Patrick Lalime allowed two goals to Joe Nieuwendyk in Toronto’s 4-1 victory in Game 7.

Matthew Knies, Toronto: The 22-year-old winger, who finished the regular-season schedule with 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points, is a key piece on the top line with Matthews and Marner.

Jake Sanderson, Ottawa: The 22-year-old blueliner registered 57 points (11 goals, 46 assists) in 2024-25. Sanderson quarterbacks the power play, makes a crisp first pass, and can skate his way out of trouble.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Cam York (8) skates past the Ottawa Senators as they celebrate their NHL hockey game overtime win in Ottawa, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) celebrates his goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of their NHL hockey game Thursday, April 17, 2025 in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green looks on during second period NHL hockey action against the Chicago Blackhawks, in Ottawa, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) and goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) celebrate a their team's victory following the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Carolina Hurricanes center Skyler Brind'Amour (76) scores against Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark, second from left, during first-period NHL hockey game action in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)

New Jersey Transit train engineers will go on strike early Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.

The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It will be the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

NJ Transit — the nation’s third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout will halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but warned riders that the buses would only add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday. The agency also will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.

However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it urged people who could work from home to do so if there was a strike.

Even the threat of it had already caused travel disruptions. Amid the uncertainty, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The parties had met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the matter, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks.

Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An NJ Transit train pulls into the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)