Senators' Hodgson drives Maple Leafs batty in final game of regular season

The Toronto Maple Leafs' William Villeneuve pushes the Ottawa Senators' Lassi Thomson to the ice during the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press

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Opting to rest five top skaters and their No. 1 goaltender, the Ottawa Senators still had no problem handling the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 82.

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Ottawa outshot Toronto 38-20 en route to a 3-1 win at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

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No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.

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Forwards

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Hayden Hodgson: A-

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Hodgson, giving everything he had and more in a meaningless game, had the Maple Leafs enraged. He was a wrecking ball, hitting anything that moved or happened to be remotely close to the puck. Hodgson led the Senators with six hits, and hammered Michael Pezzetta along the wall in the second. Fed up, Toronto began taking runs at Hodgson. Troy Stecher put him on his keister right in front of the official with the play two zones away. Stripes, whistle in pocket, seemed to believe justice was served. Simon Benoit did his best Scott Stevens impression, lining up Hodgson coming across the slot on a rush midway through the third, but narrowly missed the Ottawa forward.

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Stephen Halliday: A-

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Halliday was feeling himself in the offensive zone, finding linemates Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux all over the ice with no-look passes, one-touch setups in tight, and centring feeds for tips. He made so many plays, once deking an opposing player in the slot and reaching back around to drop it to Fabian Zetterlund for a one-timer in the third. The top line didn’t do much defending on Wednesday because it didn’t need to.

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Drake Batherson: A-

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Batherson was the Senators’ most dangerous forward, stripping unsuspecting defencemen and getting crafty at the netfront. He took a page out of his summer training partner’s book on the 1-0 goal, scoring on a feed from Giroux with a Sidney-Crosby-esque redirection on the power play.

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Fabian Zetterlund: B+

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This was a good ramp-up game for Zetterlund, looking towards Ottawa’s playoff series with Carolina. He was one of the more driven players out there and had a ton of speed on the rush, but numerous scoring chances died on his stick. With a breakaway in the first, he tried to give Lars Eller a tap-in and fumbled the puck. Zetterlund had a hard time pulling the trigger at times, but fired some hard shots from the high slot. He looked energized and ready for the next challenge.

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Kurtis MacDermid: C+

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MacDermid didn’t drive the play at all due to his poor skating ability, but he made the most of his puck touches. With a Maple Leaf draped all over him on the rush in the first, he hit Ridly Greig with a nifty drop pass. Early in the third, he got two shots off while parked in front of Dennis Hildeby. MacDermid had five hits in 7:45 of ice time.

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Dylan Cozens: B

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Cozens did well to hold onto pucks, drawing a tripping penalty in the first while making a move around a Leafs defender. He set up Shane Pinto for what should’ve been a goal on a shorthanded 2-on-1 in the second, and hit Giroux with a centring pass for a Grade A on a rush in the third.

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Ridly Greig: B

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Greig restrained himself from getting up to his usual antics against Toronto, and who could blame him? There’s nothing wrong with a quiet Game 82 when you have nothing to gain and everything to lose. He drew a tripping penalty in the second period, and recorded one hit and one takeaway in 17:10 of ice time.

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Shane Pinto: B

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With partner in crime Michael Amadio resting ahead of the playoffs, more was put on Pinto’s shoulders on the shutdown line. Coach Travis Green didn’t match them up against one specific line, but Pinto held William Nylander and John Tavares to zero shot attempts at 5-on-5 in around four minutes of ice time together.