The Battle of Ontario takes centre stage in the playoffs Sunday night, as the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Ottawa Senators for game one of their first round contest. It will no doubt be a tense series, with Ottawa sweeping the season series against Toronto, but the Leafs looking in peak form to end the year.

Speaking after morning skate on Sunday, head coach Craig Berube previewed the upcoming battle for Toronto, denying that Ottawa’s lack of playoff experience makes them any easier to take down.

“I don’t really look at it like that,” said Berube. “That’s a good team over there, they’ve earned every right to be in the playoffs the way they’ve played this year and what they’ve accomplished. We just gotta be ready for what’s gonna come with them.”

Touching on the specifics of what has impressed him about this year’s Senators group, Berube spoke about the identity head coach Travis Green has brought to this team in his first year at the helm.

“I think that their structure is excellent and they have a good identity of how they wanna play the game,” he said. “They’re around the net hard and they’re a physical team that challenges you in all zones very well, you know they’re gonna confront you … you’re not gonna get any easy ice against them, none, it’s gonna be a battle.”

Also coaching his first year with Toronto, Berube has his own structure that he’s brought to town. With that, he says his group is ready to respond with a physical style of play of their own.

“It’s gonna be physical and we gotta be able to accept that physicality,” said Berube. “If we can have the opportunities to get into guys and be physical on them we have to, that’s part of playoff hockey.”

One key name in Toronto’s backcheck will be Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as the 6’2, 192 lb. defenceman returns to the blue line for the first time since early April. Berube had high praise for the Swede and what he’ll contribute in his fourth career playoff appearance.

“He’s been a very good player in this league for a long time,” said Berube. “Experience, winning a Cup, that experience he went through there. He’s been a really good all-around defenceman for us in my opinion, in all situations. He’s the type of guy who is very versatile, moving him around with different partners and playing the right side. Power play, penalty kill, he’s a guy we really count on in different situations and in different roles, more than anything. He’s very accepting of it and handles it well.

Bringing with him his own experience coaching a team to a Stanley Cup back in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues, Berube says the main lesson he’s carrying to this year’s Leafs team is how to keep calm no matter what happens.

“It definitely help the experience,” said Berube, of his time at the helm of the Blues. “How to keep your team composed and calm and talk about the things that come in games and series, shift to shift. It’s important to have composure, there’s a lot of ups and downs, a lot of things go wrong, things go right, you know, discipline is very important.”