Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators
07:30 PM at Canadian Tire Centre
Watch on: SN, TVAS

The Leafs will finish fifth last if they lose this game in any fashion. A gain of one point to 79 and a temporary tie with Seattle puts the Kraken higher in the standings no matter what they do in their last game tomorrow since they hold the tie-breaker in RW.

A win by the Leafs puts their final standings location in the hands of the Kraken.

Them

They're playing the Hurricanes in the first round no matter what happens today.

Lines

Graeme Nichols via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice, but subject to change.

Drake Batherson - Tim Stützle - Claude Giroux
Brady Tkachuk - Dylan Cozens - Ridly Greig
Nick Cousins - Shane Pinto - Michael Amadio
Warren Foegele - Lars Eller - Fabian Zetterlund

Jordan Spence - Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot - Jordan Spence
Lassi Thomson - Nikolas Matinpalo

Limus Ullmark
James Reimer - starter

Us

The Leafs are cleaning out their lockers tomorrow no matter what happens today.

Lines

Last Game (2026-04-13) via Daily Faceoff Michael Pezzetta draws in tonight for the injured Järnkrok

Easton Cowan - John Tavares - William Nylander
Matthew Knies - Max Domi - Nicholas Robertson
Matias Maccelli - Luke Haymes - Calle Järnkrok
Steven Lorentz - Jacob Quillan - Ryan Tverberg

Morgan Rielly - Troy Stecher
Simon Benoit - Jake McCabe
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - William Villeneuve

Joe Woll
Dennis Hildeby - starter

The Game

This is, in many ways a very sad occasion. No one set out to create this disaster, but then people rarely fail on purpose. Tomorrow is the start of the future, and this season might teach some lessons to people, but they won't often speak of them, and they might join Brad Treliving in leaving the team as well.

Tonight, though, I want to toast the Leafs, the team, the players, all the staff who weren't trying to lose and who did what they thought was their best. It's all any of us can ever do, which is maybe why watching this team fall apart stirred up such extreme emotion.

For the toast:

Did you know there is a cocktail called the Toronto? It is an old one from the 20s, er, the 1920s, but it was given its name in a book from 1948. I like the Difford's guide version because they cleverly replaced the sugar syrup, which only cocktail nerds have hanging around, with maple syrup, a thing readily available in your average refrigerator.

That recipe is:

1¾ oz Canadian whisky
¼ oz Fernet Branca
¼ oz maple syrup
1 dash Agnostura Bitters

Stir it with ice, strain into a chilled glass (I never do this) and express orange zest over the top and then garnish it with orange and a cherry. (I never do that either.)

This is really tasty, and very not maple forward, but you can still get a hint of it. The bizarre bitterness of the Fernet Branca is very fitting for toasting the Leafs.

I have my own variation, beyond ignoring the fiddle-faddle, because we ended up with, mostly by accident, a bottle of this:

If you mix that with actual whisky you save the step of prying open the maple syrup which has seized closed. This drink is sweeter, but kinda fun. Less bitter and more maple. Maybe next year's team?

If you want someone else's choice:

Anyway the toast is: to the future, Leafs, it arrives whether you like it or not.

Game Coverage