2. Toronto Maple Leafs Vs Ottawa Senators AKA The Battle of Ontario
Another all Canadian match-up, these two teams have met 24 times in the playoffs since the year 2000 when they faced off 4 of 5 years, with Toronto coming out on top in 16 of those games, eliminating the Ottawa Senators in every series they met. The bitterness between the two teams has had some great moments, with Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredson going all Mark Messier and guaranteeing a win in a do-or-die game back in 2004. The Senators won the game but forgot that they still needed to win one more, bowing out in an anticlimatic 4-1 loss in game 7. Toronto has long been considered the center of the hockey universe by Torontonians but the pecularity of the team having to play in the post-season, something that hasn't been done in nearly a decade may be too much for their collective head to fathom as they usually reserve the Spring for watching baseball's Toronto Blue Jays start their yearly fall from playoff contention.
Chances Of It Happening In 2013 - 20% While it is likely both these teams might make the playoffs, they will both first have to beat far superior opponents (Pittsburgh/Montreal/Boston) in the first round. For both teams to pull off major upsets will be a great surprise, but
stranger things have happened. Toronto will have to shrug off the celebration of just finally making the playoffs having been in the longest playoff drought in the league and their storied history. Most of Ottawa is still not aware their team is in the playoffs yet and will wonder why it's so hard to find parking around the hockey arena.