Although it won’t particularly matter once the puck drops, the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs enter their first-round series with two very different set of circumstances.

While this may be the most important series of the Auston Matthews era for the Maple Leafs, as Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Matthew Knies all require new contracts this summer, the Senators are in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The core of this year’s Senators team weren’t around during the franchise’s last playoff appearance, which culminated in a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

“It’s been a long time coming. All those times in the driveway, many start to think about scoring the game-winner in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in the big game. To be finally here, it’s surreal,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said of his upcoming playoff debut during Sunday’s media availability.

Toronto won the Atlantic Division for the time and are firmly in its contention window, which has been open since Tavares signed a seven-year contract with the team in July 2018. Ottawa isn’t merely happy to be here, but the cumulative pressure of a frustrating decade hasn’t added up for its group, while playing a team it swept during the regular season.

“I think they’re the best team in our division and of course, we’re a wild-card team,” Tkachuk said. “From what I’ve been seeing, everybody’s got the Leafs, so it’s important for us to be in an underdog role, and I think that’s when we thrive, when we’re at our best. A lot of people are counting us out, but the belief and trust we have in each other is something special, it gives us an opportunity to grow together and enjoy the experience.”

David Perron is one of the few Senators who has seen it all, winning a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues, with current Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube behind the bench. Perron, a veteran of 1,174 regular season games and 104 playoff contests, outlined what lies ahead for his team against the favoured Maple Leafs.

“I think it’s write your own story. This whole story about all these guys not playing yet, but you have to play eventually. I think we have the type of group that’s built to play in the playoffs, we can win in different ways, and we can create our own momentum with our physicality, and we’ll have to establish that,” Perron said. “They’re the favourite for sure if you look at the standings and how great of the regular season that they had. Top-to-bottom, the skill level that they have, their team, their depth forwards. We’re ready for them.”

Senators head coach Travis Green has been part of the Battle of Ontario before during his playing career with the Maple Leafs, and he’s not particularly phased about the challenge for his group.

“I think with the way media is today, we don’t have to,” Green said when asked about if the Senators discuss their role as an underdog. “There’s no secret there. Most of you in the room probably picked Toronto to beat us. But in saying that, we have a lot of inner belief in our group. We still got to play the games.”

It may not be of consequence, but the Senators can afford to play their game without further concern, while the Maple Leafs’ every shift will be examined under a microscope. How each team manages the external pressure that comes with the territory of the Battle of Ontario could be the real x-factor in this series.