Battle of Ontario: Maple Leafs aim for first playoff sweep since 2001

It has been more than 24 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs swept a playoff series, but that could change tonight.

Entering the series, Toronto was listed at +900 odds on FanDuel to defeat the Ottawa Senators in four games. Heading into Saturday's game, they are now -106 to complete the sweep.

The last time the Leafs completed a sweep was in 2001, in the opening round of the playoffs against the Ottawa Senators, in a series that featured not one, but two games that went to overtime.

Seeing as this series has already had two overtime games, if history is repeating itself, we can expect to see a 3-1 Leafs win Saturday night in a game with Ottawa scoring the first goal, Toronto scoring on the power play, and their captain assisting on the third goal of the night.

Speaking of history repeating itself, Domenic Padula hopes history repeats for his best bet after cashing Auston Matthews at +140 to score in Game 3, improving his series best bets to 2-1.

Before we get to Dom’s bet, let’s take a look at a few storylines to monitor.

The Man Advantage 

The Maple Leafs' power play, often a playoff weakness, has been a strength in the first three games of the 2025 postseason.

Toronto has converted five of nine power-play opportunities in the series.

Mitch Marner leads with four of his six series points on the power play, while John Tavares and Matthew Knies have scored both of their goals with the man advantage.

Toronto’s 55.6 per cent power-play success rate ranks second in the playoffs, behind the Los Angeles Kings at 58.3 per cent.

If the Maple Leafs complete the sweep Saturday, their top players will likely contribute on special teams.

Chasing a comeback

While Leafs fans hope for a 2001 repeat, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk is drawing inspiration from a different early-2000s milestone.

After the Game 3 loss, Tkachuk referenced the Boston Red Sox’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. But he doesn’t have to watch any more documentaries on it, he’s now hoping to live it. 

The Sens are +1400 to win the series, and are +650 to force a Game 7, if they're going to win this series they'll be joining an short list of NHL playoff teams. 

Only four NHL teams have overcome a 3-0 series deficit, most recently the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in 2014. Before that, Claude Giroux and the Philadelphia Flyers did it against the Boston Bruins in 2010. The other two were the New York Islanders in 1975 and the 1942 Maple Leafs. 

Giroux, the only player in this series with experience erasing a 3-0 deficit, scored the overtime winner in Game 4 of that 2010 series, finishing with two points in a 5-4 win.

If he can help Ottawa overcome this 0-3 series deficit, he will become the first player in NHL history to be a part of two different teams to achieve this feat.

Giroux is +122 to record a point and +430 to score in Game 4. He is also 100-1 in the game to reach overtime & OT goal-scorer market.

DOM’S BATTLE OF ONTARIO GAME 4 BEST BET

Mitch Marner 1+ assist has cashed in all three games in the Battle of Ontario. He’s up to 1 goal and 6 points in three games.

With a new contract on the horizon, Marner can continue to boost his stock with a strong postseason performance.

I’ll bank on that trend to continue with Marner extending his streak tonight. Meanwhile, the Senators will empty the tank as they try to avoid elimination, beginning with the captain Brady Tkachuk.

Tkachuk has registered four or more shots on goal in each of the first three games of the series. I’ll bank on him to get me at least three tonight.

Give me a Same Game Parlay with Marner 1+ assist and Tkachuk 3+ shots on goal at +112 as a FanDuel Best Bet.

Enjoy the game, everyone!