OTTAWA — The Toronto Maple Leafs saw one of their top performers in this first-round series sprawled out on the ice during overtime and they must have noticed that John Tavares was unavailable to occupy his usual spot at the net front during the four-minute power play that followed with a chance to sweep away the Ottawa Senators.
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But none of them would cop to knowing anything about the unpenalized Artem Zub hit that sent him to the dressing room for more than 10 minutes on Saturday night.
“I haven’t seen it, so I have no clue,” said William Nylander.
“Honestly, I haven’t seen it,” said Matthew Knies. “I haven’t looked at it yet, so I can’t speak on it.”
“You know what, I didn’t see it,” said Oliver Ekman-Larsson. “So I can’t comment about that one. I saw that he laid down. I didn’t see the hit.”
Behind the scenes, they couldn’t have been too happy after Jake Sanderson kept the Senators’ season alive with a long shot through traffic that sent the Leafs home with a 4-3 loss in Game 4.
Had Zub been sent off for interference on the first shift of overtime after lowering the boom on an unsuspecting Tavares, perhaps it would have broken another way.
Tavares was nowhere near the puck and appeared to be dazed on the play. He briefly returned to the bench, watching a replay of the hit, before going down the tunnel to the visitor’s dressing room at Canadian Tire Centre. More than 10 minutes of game time elapsed before he finally returned and managed to take three shifts.
Tavares didn’t speak to reporters afterward, but Leafs coach Craig Berube didn’t seem overly worried about his status heading into Game 5 in Toronto on Tuesday night.
“I don’t think there’s any concern,” said Berube. “He came back. He had to go off for a while, which at the time we got a power play and he’s not out there.
“It is what it is.”
Not only has Tavares been a major catalyst in helping the Leafs build a 3-1 series lead — he’s tied for the team lead with three goals and sits second with 13 shots — he’s also a critical part of their red-hot power play.
The Leafs have found success with the man advantage by filtering pucks to the crease area, where Knies and Tavares typically provide the finish. Tavares tied for the team lead with 12 power-play goals during the regular season and has already collected another two against Ottawa in Round 1.
However, when Drake Batherson was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Chris Tanev with the Sens season hanging in the balance on Saturday, Tavares was unavailable to join the usual five-forward formation because he was with the trainers in the back.
Drake Batherson’s high-sticking penalty sends the Leafs to a four-minute power play in OT pic.twitter.com/GVPzPie4dS
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 27, 2025
Morgan Rielly went out in his place. The Leafs couldn’t get a series-winning shot to fall.
“Mo stepped up and did a great job there, but we’ve been kind of solid and we’ve been with (Tavares) for a while now,” said Knies. “We were missing a piece there, but I think Mo stepped up and I think we had some good chances. I just think we need to put it in the back of the net when we get those.”
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While the entire Tavares sequence in Game 4 might end up being nothing more than a footnote if he’s healthy enough to play Tuesday and the Leafs find a way to close out the series, those are both unknowns as we head into a two-day break in the series that will finally allow everyone to take a deep breath.
Given the unpredictable nature of head injuries, it’s always possible that Tavares wakes up feeling not quite right on Sunday morning.
Plus, as the Leafs confront some demons about their inability to win potential series-clinching games, it’s worth remembering that when they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2021 playoffs, they did so with Tavares sidelined by head and knee injuries.
That’s obviously a piece of history no one in blue and white wants to see repeated.
Even at age 34 and just two months shy of potential unrestricted free agency, Tavares is a critical piece for the Leafs. He’s a steady performer and stabilizer coming off a monster season. Plus, there would be a big dropoff at 2C if he were unavailable to play, with the most likely short-term fill-in being Max Domi getting elevated in the lineup or perhaps Pontus Holmberg shifting to the middle.
During the 10 minutes of overtime the Leafs had to play without him on Saturday, he was certainly missed.
“It affected a big part of our power play,” said Nylander.
“We had some looks,” Berube said of his PP1 without No. 91. “We had some good looks. (Auston) Matthews hit the post. I’m not going to look at it too much, we didn’t get a bounce. Could have ended it, hit a post, we had a couple other good opportunities.
“JT’s very good on the PP for us, obviously.”
(Photo: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)
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