Game 7s to remember: Leafs win Battle of Ontario again in 2004

The NHL should be deep into postseason action, but with the start of the 2019-20 playoffs delayed, theScore's hockey editors are picking their favorite Game 7s from years past.

Today, we look back at the final installment of the Battle of Ontario, wherein the Toronto Maple Leafs bounced the archrival Ottawa Senators from the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons.

The setup

The Maple Leafs and Senators met in the postseason three years in a row from 2000-02. After a year off, they crossed paths again in the first round in 2004. Toronto entered the playoffs as the 4-seed with 103 points, a single point clear of Ottawa in the standings.

The Senators came into the series as the stronger team on paper, ranking first in goals for through the regular season and ninth in goals against. Ottawa had a deep roster led by the likes of Marian Hossa, Daniel Alfredsson, Zdeno Chara, and a pair of dynamic young forwards in Jason Spezza and Martin Havlat.

The Leafs were a veteran club through and through, built around captain Mats Sundin, Gary Roberts, and Alexander Mogilny up front while a 38-year-old Ed Belfour tended goal.

The series

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The Senators won Game 1 on the road, but the Maple Leafs responded with two consecutive victories to take a 2-1 lead. Ottawa won a crucial Game 4 in which Toronto was dealt a major blow, as Sundin suffered a lower-body injury that caused him to miss the remainder of the series. The Maple Leafs went on to win Game 5 without their leader thanks to a 21-save shutout from Belfour. After the contest, Alfredsson guaranteed his club would win Game 6 at home and ultimately take the series.

The Sens captain came through on the first part of his promise, as a baby-faced Mike Fisher scored in double overtime of Game 6 to send the series back to Toronto for a winner-take-all showdown.

The game

The Star(s): Maple Leafs forward Joe Nieuwendyk had the most memorable performance of the game, burying two first-period goals (we'll get to those later) to provide Toronto an early and insurmountable lead.

Even though Toronto was in the driver's seat for nearly the entire game, Belfour was fantastic in goal, stopping 36-of-37 Senators shots. After Ottawa scored 22 seconds into the second period to make it 3-1 and gain a glimmer of hope, Eddie the Eagle was there to stop the ensuing barrage with several key saves.

The X-factor(s): The Maple Leafs' opening goal came from the unlikeliest of sources, as depth winger Chad Kilger tallied his first goal of the playoffs just over six minutes into the first period. The veteran winger had only three goals that season, but he was in the right spot to bury a perfect feed from another rare offensive contributor: enforcer Tie Domi.

Kilger went on to add the primary assist on Toronto's key insurance marker in the third period. As they say, anything can happen in a Game 7.

Key moment: Nieuwendyk's aforementioned two first-period goals are unquestionably the lasting memory from this game. The eventual Hall of Famer notched his first less than two minutes after Kilger opened the scoring, fooling Ottawa goaltender Patrick Lalime with a soft wrister from the left boards.

Oddly enough, Nieuwendyk got the same opportunity on a nearly identical rush in the final minute of the opening frame. He squeaked another one past Lalime, and the game might as well have been over. Even legendary announcer Bob Cole was dumbfounded, shouting "What's going on?!" as a raucous Air Canada Centre crowd basked in the commanding 3-0 advantage for their Leafs.

The highlight

Sixteen years later, these goals still make no sense.

Lalime was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots in a performance that tarnished an otherwise impressive playoff resume. He had managed a .926 save percentage and 1.77 goals-against average across 41 postseason games, but that outing in Toronto was the final playoff start of his career.

"Patrick didn't have a good night," Senators head coach Jacques Martin said following the loss. "We're not going to hide that."

The fallout

The Leafs were eliminated in six games by the Philadelphia Flyers the following round. After that, Toronto and Ottawa went in opposite directions.

The 2004-05 season was canceled due to lockout, but before the league returned for the 2005-06 campaign, the Senators made a major splash by trading for Dany Heatley. He scored 50 goals in each of his first two seasons in Ottawa, helping the team become a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference.

The Senators won the division that season with 113 points, then advanced to the Stanley Cup Final the following year. The top line of Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza was one of the league's best.

Meanwhile, the Leafs plummeted after the lockout. Their lineup was too old, and after they barely missed the playoffs in the first two years of the new NHL, things went further downhill.

From the 2007-08 season through the 2011-12 campaign, the Leafs maxed out at 85 points. The club wasn't developing players, and different management teams made a variety of questionable decisions without ever committing to an actual rebuild. Toronto didn't make the playoffs again until 2013, the lockout-shortened season that featured a 48-game schedule.

More pain followed, but the Leafs have been a real playoff contender since 2016. However, they're still looking for their first series win since ousting the Senators in 2004.

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IIHF unveils groups for 2022 Olympic hockey

The IIHF announced updated rankings and unveiled the groups for men's and women's hockey at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Here's a look at how the countries will line up in the men's bracket:

Group A: Canada (1), USA (6), Germany (7), China (12)
Group B: Russia (2), Czech Republic (5), Switzerland (8), Qualifier 3 (11)
Group C: Finland (3), Sweden (4), Qualifier 1 (9), Qualifier 2 (10)

The three qualifying positions will be awarded through tournaments set to conclude in August 2020 that feature 12 countries. However, that timeline is uncertain, as the coronavirus pandemic has already postponed or canceled several international events.

The 2018 Olympics marked the first time since 1998 that NHLers didn't participate. In January, commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is "very comfortable" not going to the Olympics.

Here's how the women's tournament will be set up:

Group A: USA (1), Canada (2), Finland (3), Russia (4), Switzerland (5)
Group B: Japan (6), Qualifier 1 (7), Qualifier 2 (8), Qualifier 3 (9), China (10)

In 2018, the U.S. women's team knocked off Canada in a gold-medal game shootout, while Finland claimed bronze.

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Scotiabank Arena being used to prep 10,000 meals per day for health-care workers

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment is using Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, to prepare 10,000 meals a day for the city's frontline health-care workers and their families, the organization announced Friday.

With the help from its partners, MLSE has transformed the floor of the arena to a massive food production line. It is planning to run the program five days a week through the month of June, delivering approximately 500,000 meals, according to The Toronto Star's Neil Davidson.

"We're learning as we go," MLSE's vice president of food and beverage Dan Morrow said, according to Davidson. "We learned that cooking 5,000 pounds of pasta takes a long time."

Meals will also be delivered to shelters and community agencies throughout Toronto and to hospitals during shift changes. The goal is to catch frontline health-care workers going home and to provide them with a meal for four.

"These individually packaged meals are critical. And we didn't have any to give out," Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel said. "This is a time, with COVID, that you really need the meals. You need the food but you really need the meals."

The operation began with making 2,800 meals per day and has been steadily increasing its production. As they gear up to make 50,000 meals a week, there will be approximately 90 people working to get the job done.

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Sens’ Ryan: Isolation ‘would have been really bad’ without therapy

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Ottawa Senators forward Bobby Ryan is grateful for the therapy he participated in earlier this season now that he, along with most of the world, is being forced to self-isolate.

In November, Ryan suffered a panic attack and was forced to leave the Senators to enter the NHL/NHLPA's player assistance program for alcohol abuse. He revealed the clarity he gained from the therapy is helping him now during such uncertain times.

"It would have been really bad going into this had I not gone through what I did back in the early part of December to get help," Ryan told TSN's Ian Mendes. "I couldn’t imagine being isolated with my family. It wouldn’t have been good for my marriage, because I wasn’t in a good place to really help."

Ryan added: "One of the things I’ve really learned in the past four and a half months is that there only a few things you can control. And what’s outside those limits are going to happen anyway. So just try and stay within the bubble. I can’t control the situation. I can only control thoughts."

Ryan returned to the Senators in February, and late in the month, produced one of the most memorable moments of the season, burying a hat trick versus the Vancouver Canucks in his first home game since his absence.

The 33-year-old is in his 13th NHL season, having posted 555 points in 833 career games.

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Lindros named Flyers ambassador, will participate in COVID-19 fundraiser

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Eric Lindros was named an ambassador for the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and will participate in the "ALL IN Challenge" - a fundraiser for COVID-19 hunger relief - as his first project, the team announced.

"Few players in Flyers history inspire as much excitement and passion among the fanbase as Eric Lindros, and during this unprecedented time those positive feelings are exactly what we want to deliver to our fans," president of business operations Valerie Camillo said.

"This ambassadorship with Eric has been in the works for quite some time, and we made the decision to kick it off right now, not only as a special engagement for our fans but even more importantly as an integral way to assist those impacted by COVID-19."

As part of the fundraiser, the Flyers and Lindros are auctioning off the Ultimate Flyers Game Day Experience. The winner and up to 11 guests will hit the ice with Lindros during the morning skate, participate in the ceremonial puck drop prior to that night's game, watch the game in a suite with Lindros, and enjoy a postgame celebration with the former Flyer and special guests.

Lindros spent his first eight NHL campaigns with Philadelphia, racking up 290 goals and 659 points in 486 games with the club. The Flyers lifted his No. 88 to the rafters at Wells Fargo Center in January 2018.

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Report: NHL’s Coyotes investigation to conclude before draft

The NHL's probe into whether the Arizona Coyotes conducted physical testing of draft-eligible players before the combine will be wrapped up before the next draft, regardless of when it's held.

"There's a timeline and there's a conclusion that's set for sorting through the allegations," TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."

The Coyotes will reportedly take part in a hearing, and while the team has been cooperative lately, other clubs want Arizona to be punished if the league discovers violations.

The NHL made it known to teams earlier this week that a resolution would precede the upcoming draft.

"The National Hockey League, as part of a conference call Tuesday with the general managers, brought it up unsolicited," Dreger said. "No general manager asked for further detail, but the National Hockey League commissioner's office did tell the general managers that whenever the draft is - if the draft is in June (or) if it's later than that - this issue will be resolved, and if necessary, the Coyotes will be held accountable before the NHL draft."

Dreger reported in January that the NHL was investigating the club after multiple CHL teams stated they were contacted by Arizona. NHL rules prohibit physical testing of draft prospects prior to the combine. If found guilty, the Coyotes could face a $250,000 fine or more, per incident, at commissioner Gary Bettman's discretion.

The league is considering holding a virtual draft in June before the season resumes.

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Watch: Classic 🏒: Nordiques look to upset Canadiens in 1982 showdown

In this installment of the Battle of Quebec, the Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques face off in a decisive Game 5, with the winner advancing to the second round of the 1982 playoffs.

Led by the Stastny brothers, the Nordiques looked to complete the upset at Montreal Forum over Guy Lafleur and the division-leading Canadiens.

Watch the livestream below:

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