Leafs Goalie Predicts Bloodbath In Battle Of Ontario Against Senators

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The opening round matchups for the Stanley Cup Playoffs are set, and there are some absolute doozies.

However, one of the most anticipated ones is going to be the "Battle of Ontario" between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators are returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, while the Leafs are still looking to get to the Conference Final for the first time since 2002.

Both teams are going to be hungry to prove what they're amide of with the younger Senators wanting to show that they're one of the league's teams of the future while the Leafs will want to prove the haters wrong and finally make a run to a Stanley Cup before they need to start blowing up the farm and rebuilding.

Add that all up, and that's why Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz — who hasn't been announced as the Leafs' Game 1 starter over teammate Joseph Woll, but he has three shutouts in the last eight games, so… — thinks that this series could be a total bloodbath.

Goalie Anthony Stolarz sees a bloodbath on the horizon in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when his Maple Leafs take on the Ottawa Senators. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"It'll be fun for sure. I think they're a hungry team. They haven't made the playoffs in a couple years here," Stolarz said, according to TSN. "We feel good about our game and it's going to be a bloodbath; it's going to be a little bit of a war, so we'll be ready."

A bloodbath, you say?

Well, Stolarz knows his playoff hockey. He backed up Sergei Bobrovsky last season and appeared in one game for the Florida Panthers in their run to the Cup. Could he prove to be the answer to one of the Leafs' nagging problems over the years?

But the Leafs are going to need all hands on deck for a Senators team led by Brady Tkachuk, who is getting his first taste of playoff action and is built for the occasion.

Folks, this is going to be a good one.