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Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk heard it from the Toronto Maple Leafs crowd on Sunday night.
While Tkachuk and 12 other Senators players made their first playoff appearance in Game 1 against the Leafs, the Toronto crowd chanted “Brady sucks” throughout the match. But Tkachuk doesn’t seem concerned about that after losing 6-2.
“I guess I expected it,” Tkachuk told reporters post-game. “Couldn’t care less. I don’t really give a s--- to be honest. That’s not going to affect me, and honestly, new game Tuesday.”
Tkachuk had five shots on net, a breakaway attempt that Leafs' goalie Anthony Stolarz stopped, seven hits, one blocked shot and a roughing penalty in 16:58 of action. But what he is more focused on than what the fans are saying is Toronto getting six power plays and capitalizing on three.
“Clear as day what the issues is,” he said. “We took too many penalties, they scored on it, and that’s the game. So that’s on us.”
Ten Senators players took penalties on Sunday, with five of them receiving four minutes or more.
While there weren’t any penalties in the opening frame, the Maple Leafs’ John Tavares scored less than 10 seconds after Tim Stutzle’s boarding penalty on Chris Tanev in the second period. Toronto right winger William Nylander scored three seconds after Adam Gaudette got called for cross-checking Auston Matthews.
When Drake Batherson received a cross-checking penalty in the third period, Matthew Knies scored eight seconds later. Batherson was also called for tripping late in the second period.
Batherson said he wouldn’t comment on the officiating post-game, but Senators coach Travis Green did discuss some of the penalties.
“I thought there were a couple calls they did a good job selling,” Green said, referring to the Leafs.
“It's tough on the refs, but can't take that many penalties, for sure.”
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The Ottawa Senators: A Rollercoaster Game For A Rollercoaster Eight YearsThe Ottawa Senators’ regular-season finale was quite the ride. Maple Leafs right winger Mitch Marner said his team did a good job with tip plays on the man advantage and stayed composed during the game.
“I thought we did a good job of trying to stay out of the stuff, just focus on our game and focus on what we can control,” Marner told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas. “It’s only going to get harder from here, so we just got to make sure we regroup tomorrow, see what we can even do a little better and take it to the next game.”
As for the crowd, Marner also took notice.
“Playoffs in here is always a lot of fun, and you can feel the energy – you can feel the energy when you’re driving into the city,” he said.
The Maple Leafs will try to feed off that energy and momentum in Game 2, but the Ottawa Senators have every opportunity to learn from Game 1 and bounce back on the road Tuesday night.
“Everbody's first game jitters, nerves, whatever you want to call it, now that that's passed, that doesn't change the mindset,” Tkachuk said. “Obviously frustrated, but at the end of the day, it's a new game.”
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