Ottawa Senators fans roared approval of their up-and-coming squad after their season ended on home ice in Game 6. Rarely has a playoff loss to a longtime rival been this OK.

Now that the Battle of Ontario has hit Game 5, there's a sense that the hatred between the Senators and Maple Leafs will grow. Wayne Scanlan looks at why this series sets the stage for a new era of the provincial rivalry.

Entering Game 3, the Senators' quest was to pour every ounce of resolve they had to get back into the Battle of Ontario. But by night's end, all anyone could do was marvel at how Ottawa fans took their building back. 

It took eight years of learning to get these Senators back to the playoffs. Now, they get to go to school on Game 1, where there were plenty of lessons to go around after a loss to the Maple Leafs.

For the first time since former general manager Pierre Dorion signed Claude Giroux to a three-year free agent deal in July 2022, the Senators forward is heading into the playoffs with his hometown Ottawa team. Little wonder Giroux seems to be sporting a wide grin these days.

In the days leading up to Ottawa’s first playoff series in eight seasons, Senators president and CEO Cyril Leeder is being tugged in a hundred directions at once — and couldn’t be happier about it. Wayne Scanlan has more.