The Battle of Ontario is officially underway. On Easter Sunday, the Maple Leafs and the Senators clashed in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The game started off hot early. Fast-paced and physical, exactly what you’d expect from a playoff game of this magnitude. Toronto got on the board first with a goal in the first from Oliver Ekman-Larsson when he took a pass from Scott Laughton and was all alone in the slot to put it past Ullmark.

At 12:18 in the first period, Mitch Marner increased it to 2-0. Shooting glove side on a breakaway, Marner snuck between Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen after Auston Matthews gloved down a dump-in along the left-side boards.

With less than 5 minutes to go in the period, Ottawa shut down Toronto’s momentum and cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal from Drake Batherson off a rebound from a Dylan Cozens shot. Early in the second period, Morgan Rielly had a bad giveaway to Brady Tkachuk, but Anthony Stolarz shut the door on Tkachuk to keep the game tied. Stolarz stopped 31 shots en route to the Leafs’ win.

Toronto regained the two-goal lead on a powerplay goal from John Tavares, after he put in a rebound from his own shot after deflecting one from Nylander. Speaking of Nylander, Toronto scored on a 5-on-3 later in the period after Tavares won the faceoff back to Nylander, who skated into the wide open slot and shot it right past Ullmark for the three-goal lead. The “Core 4” made an impact early in this series, something that Leafs fans aren’t usually accustomed to.

“The intensity ramps up in playoffs but you just have to go play, and they (Nylander, Tavares, Matthews and Marner) did that,” Berube said. “I thought they played a solid hockey game.”

Ridley Greig cut it to 4-2 4 minutes into the third period, but not long after did Morgan Rielly fire a shot from the point that deflected off a Senators player, past Ullmark to regain the three goal lead.

Late in the third, Ottawa went on the attack and threw up a couple shots on the Leafs. One of which got blocked by the hand of Matthew Knies. The puck ended up being cleared and the Leafs ended up on the powerplay. Matthew Knies got right back into action and onto the powerplay, and he was able to shovel in the loose puck for his own goal in the game.

To end the game there were multiple scruffles and roughing happening. Roughing calls went out to both lines on the ice and a few extra before what ensued, but that would mark the end of game 1 of this series.

Toronto played with a lot of energy, and for the most part they were able to match the physicality of the Senators. There was lots to be happy about due to the performance of this team. They had Ullmark’s number and they capitalized when they could. Fans got into it too, taunting Ullmark after he’d let in another goal. They even chanted “Brady Sucks” multiple times throughout the game. The Maple Leafs recorded three power-play goals in a playoff game for the first time since 1999, while Mitch Marner recorded his fifth career three-point postseason game.

Toronto looks to go up 2-0 in the series on Tuesday night, when they face a Senators team who looks to bounce back from a poor performance.