NHL official Dan O'Rourke taking part in an outdoor game.

Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in for a tough Game 5 with the officials announced for tonight’s game coming in with a favourable record for the Ottawa Senators.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have returned to the friendly confines of Scotiabank Arena in the hopes of ending their first round series against the Ottawa Senators tonight.

With a commanding 3-0 series lead, the Maple Leafs could have pulled off the rare sweep on Saturday night in Ottawa, but fell short in overtime after Jake Sanderson‘s fluttering point shot through traffic found it’s way past Anthony Stolarz.

With the scene shifting back to Toronto, the Leafs hope to squash all the outside talk about their lack of finishing in elimination games. Unfortunately they might already be behind the 8-ball after the NHL revealed the officials who will be ruling over the game.

Frederick L’Ecuyer and Dan O’Rourke will be the match referees, whereas Scott Cherrey and Libor Suchanek will be the linespersons.

The veteran duo of L’Ecuyer and O’Rourke refereed in 73 and 72 games, respectively, over the course of the 2024-25 season and have a combined 2,624 games under their belt in the regular season and another 255 in the post-season.

Where things get difficult for the Maple Leafs is that the Ottawa Senators are 8-1-1 with them in charge as referees this season compared to the Leafs, who are 4-4-1. However, things were a little better last year when the Leafs were 7-2-1 compared to Ottawa’s 1-5-0 record.

Between the two of them, there is generally an equal amount of penalties, power play opportunities, and goals. While their records for Toronto and Ottawa paint a different picture, the home teams have incredible numbers when they’re officiating, which gives Toronto some hope. Home teams are 44-24-6 with L’Ecuyer and 39-26-8 with O’Rourke.

Look for the Leafs to put an end to a lot of their demons tonight, including their record in elimination games during the Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner era, which currently sits at 1-13-0 after Game 4.

Previously on MapleLeafsDaily

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Officials Revealed For Game 5 of the Battle of Ontario and the Leafs May Be in Trouble

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