Friends will become foes again on Hockey Night in Canada.
After a wild week that began with Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and top defenceman Jake Sanderson collecting gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews as a teammate, the trio will face off at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night.
Fresh off a celebration that took them from Milan to Miami to the White House in Washington and the State of the Union address on Tuesday night after winning U.S. gold in Olympic men’s hockey for the first time in 46 years, Tkachuk and Sanderson will take on Matthews in the Battle of Ontario.
While there isn’t nearly as much at stake as when they skated together against Team Canada last Sunday, the Senators and Leafs are both trying to keep their slim playoff hopes alive with the National Hockey League’s trade deadline looming next Friday at 3 p.m.
Neither the Senators nor the Leafs is in control of their own destiny, which is why Tkachuk, Sanderson and Matthews will all play important roles down the stretch.
After meeting in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, the Leafs, who won that matchup, but were eliminated in Round 2, and the Senators were both supposed to take another step this season.
Instead, they’re both fighting for their playoff lives.
The Senators were seven points out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference after dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday at home, and this game in Toronto is another important matchup with an Atlantic Division opponent.
Yes, the Senators were able to get a point against the Red Wings, but they’re long past the time where they can afford to let extra points slip away.
With only 24 games left, the threshold to make the playoffs could be 99 points. With 64 points through 58 games, the Senators would need at least 35 points through wins and overtime losses the rest of the way to have a chance.
They’d also have to rely on some of the teams in front of them — Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets — to run into difficulty.
Head coach Travis Green told reporters after the loss to the Red Wings that he thought the Senators played a “phenomenal” first period and could have been up 3-0 if it hadn’t been for a standout effort by Detroit goaltender John Gibson.
“I definitely felt we deserved a better result,” said Tkachuk, who scored the Senators’ only goal on a first-period power play. “I thought we did a lot of great things (Thursday night). Their goalie stood on his head, had a great game, and it’s just unfortunate we didn’t get the two points that we wanted.”
Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson (85) crashes to the ice in front of goaltender Linus Ullmark during the first period of Thursday’s home game against the Detroit Red Wings.
The expectation is that Linus Ullmark will start in goal for the Senators against the Leafs. They have to ride him down the stretch to see if he can help them make the playoffs.
Ullmark made 18 stops against the Red Wings. He has a 2-0-1 record since he returned from a 35-day leave of absence for mental health reasons on Jan. 31.
Off to Hockeyville
The Senators are headed back to Kraft Hockeyville in September.
The NHL announced on Friday that the Senators will face the Montreal Canadiens in an exhibition game on Monday, Sept. 21, at the Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières.
While Saint-Boniface, Que., was the winner of the 2025 Kraft Hockeyville contest, the arena there isn’t big enough to host an NHL game, so the game will be played in nearby Trois-Rivières.
The Colisée Videtron holds 4,700 fans.
The Arena de Saint-Boniface will receive $250,000 in upgrades with a donation from Kraft, and the NHL Players’ Association will donate $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from its Goals and Dreams Fund.
The Senators are committed to getting a stronger foothold in Quebec, and this is another step in that initiative.
“The Senators are always committed to grassroots initiatives, both in the Ottawa-Gatineau region and elsewhere in the country, and we are proud to once again participate in Kraft Hockeyville,” said Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager.
“Over the years, we have witnessed that hockey is part of the fabric of the communities that we visit. We look forward to the opportunity to bring Ottawa Senators hockey to these areas as a celebration of our sport and the Canadian communities that continue to grow the game.”
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