With the Battle of Ontario tightening up, Morgan Rielly and the Toronto Maple Leafs are doing their best to remain composed following consecutive missed opportunities to eliminate the Ottawa Senators in their first-round playoff series.

After dropping Game 4 on the road and suffering a 4-0 shutout loss at home in Game 5 on Tuesday night, the Leafs are headed back to the Canadian Tire Centre for Game 6 on Thursday – still holding a 3-2 series lead, but fully aware that the Senators have gained some momentum.

On Wednesday morning, defenseman Morgan Rielly spoke to reporters at the team’s media availability, saying the club is in good spirits ahead of another important game on Thursday. 

“Everyone is doing great. I think all the guys have been great. That comes and goes over the course of a season. I think in moments like this or in the past in playoff series, it kind of brings you together,” Rielly explained.

“When you face a little bit of adversity and you hope it brings the best out of people. It's a good challenge. I mean, we expected it to be challenging. No one expected it to be easy. So, again, we're up in a series, and we're in a position where we have a chance to regroup and refocus and go out there and play some good hockey," he added.

Toronto is now 1-13 in elimination games since 2018, a stat that has continued to worsen and seemingly hung over the core group’s playoff narrative. But as the 31-year-old believes, the adversity is having the opposite effect, bringing the Leafs together rather than tearing them apart.

'All I Hear Around Here Is Core, Core Core': Maple Leafs' Craig Berube Wants Whole-Team Contribution Ahead of Game 6 Against SenatorsThe Toronto Maple Leafs core players may be feeling a bit of pressure after the Ottawa Senators kept the entire club off the scoresheet in a 4-0 win in Game 5 of their best-of-seven series. 

Regardless, a regroup is necessary after two straight losses in potential elimination games. Despite outshooting the Senators 27-19 in Game 5, the Leafs failed to generate many high-quality chances as they were blanked on home ice. 

They’ve now been outscored 8-3 across the last two games and haven’t scored a power-play goal since Game 3, going 0-for-7 over the last two contests. To make matters worse, they’ve allowed a short-handed goal in each of the last two games as a lack of execution has arisen on special teams.

“Lots of areas (to improve). Breakouts, forechecks, the whole thing, just about managing the game. I always say, at the tip of the spear, it's execution. And then from there, it goes into being competitive, structure and whatnot. But I think it's just about executing. I think that the D have our areas of focus, gaps, breakouts, all that stuff, all those cliches, and the forwards kind of have their areas. So it's important that we just look at everything and, I mean, use today as a day to kind of refocus, regroup, and just get ready to play some hockey,” said Rielly.

‘We’ve Got To Be More Direct’: Maple Leafs’ Power Play Stalls, Surrender Another Short-Handed Goal As Special Teams Struggle In Game 5 LossThe Toronto Maple Leafs’ special teams were a struggle in their Game 5 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. 

For a team long criticized for its inability to close out in crunch time, the pressure is mounting. 

Yet, one area that’s led the charge is Toronto’s defensive corps. As a defensive unit, the Leafs ranked last in goals from defensemen in the regular season, but in the playoffs, they have stepped up and produced offensively throughout the series with five goals from Rielly (2), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2), and Simon Benoit (1). Though the offense has dried up in the moment, Rielly harped on rediscovering that success heading into Game 6. 

“I think if you look at our group and how we want to generate offense as D we want to get pucks in, we want to get opportunities off rebounds. Again, when I talk about execution off breakouts, that often leads to carrying the puck up the middle of the ice. So, there are lots of areas that we've got to improve on. Creating offense would be one,” said Rielly. “So for us, we have all the faith in the world and our guys and our structure. And, I mean, like I said, we're going to use today to refocus and just be ready to play tomorrow.”

'That's An Easy Decision For Me': Maple Leafs Miss 4-Minute Overtime Power Play, Squander Chance to Sweep SenatorsKANATA, Ont. — The Toronto Maple Leafs were afforded a golden opportunity to complete a four-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. 

The former first-round pick expects the Canadian Tire Centre to be “rocking” on Thursday, with the Senators having a chance to even the series and send the game to a winner-take-all Game 7. 

And for good reason. 

Ottawa is playing like a team with nothing to lose. In their first postseason appearance since 2017, the Senators have clawed their way back with opportunistic hockey, and they’ve now beaten Toronto five times in eight meetings this season, including a regular-season sweep. Despite their lack of playoff experience, they’ve had the Leafs’ number.

“They're playing great. They're playing hard. It's been a close series the whole way through. Again, that's what we expected,” said Rielly. “It's pretty much par for the course. Both teams are competing. Both teams are doing their best to execute. It's been tight. It's been very competitive.”

'I Don't Think There's Any Panic': "Maple Leafs Miss Another Series-Closing Opportunity in Frightening Déjà Vu'It was that familiar feeling of tension that Toronto Maple Leafs fans at Scotiabank Arena have felt before. The crowd went silent when Dylan Cozens finished off a 2-on-1 opportunity to give the Ottawa Senators a 2-0 lead midway through the third period in Game 5. Reality set in, when Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk scored empty-net goals to defeat Toronto 4-0 and force a Game 6 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thursday.

Toronto's locker room includes players with championship pedigree, including head coach Craig Berube and former Florida Panthers additions in Anthony Stolarz, Steven Lorentz, and Ekman-Larsson. Rielly, who has three points (2G, 1A) in five games this series, says their presence has helped steady the group as the players “lean on each other” in these moments.

“It's nice to have experience. In times like this, you're just trying to lean on each other,” Rielly explained. “It's fun, though. I mean, this is why you play. It can be nerve-wracking at times, but that's where the joy comes in, and it's very competitive, and you're doing what you love, and the stakes are high. So we're going to try to enjoy it and really come together and play well.”

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