Maple Leafs’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe to play Game 1 versus Senators

The Toronto Maple Leafs will open the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a boosted blue line as both Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe are set to return to the lineup, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube confirmed per TSN’s Chris Johnston.

Ekman-Larsson returns after missing the final four games of the regular season with an upper-body injury. On the season, the 33-year-old Swedish-born rearguard has made 77 appearances with the Maple Leafs in which he has scored four times and added 25 assists for 29 points while averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time per game.

A veteran of 1,059 career contests counting stops with the former Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, and Maple Leafs, last spring saw Ekman-Larsson help the Panthers to their first-ever Stanley Cup championship. In all, through 49 postseason appearances, Ekman-Larsson has posted four goals and 10 assists for 14 points. In July, Ekman-Larsson agreed to a four-year, $14-million deal with the Maple Leafs in unrestricted free agency.

For McCabe, the veteran rearguard re-enters the lineup after missing the past seven games with an undisclosed ailment. Through 66 outings with the Maple Leafs this season, the 31-year-old product of Eau Claire, Wis., has collected two goals and 21 assists for 23 points while leading the squad with 21:31 in ice time per game.

Skating in his third campaign in Toronto, McCabe has now totaled 643 career contests with the Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, and Maple Leafs in which he has registered 35 goals and 140 assists for 175 points. McCabe has also added one goal and two assists for three points through 18 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Maple Leafs begin their opening-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday versus the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators. The two sides met up three times in the regular season, with the Senators taking all three contests.