Those were the words coming out of Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk’s mouth as he skated off the ice after the team’s Game 4 win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

He made the prediction come true on Tuesday, delivering a clutch performance in a 4-0 win over the Leafs to send the series back to Ottawa for Game 6.

Tkachuk set up the first goal by winning the draw back to Thomas Chabot and then screened Anthony Stolarz on the defenceman’s shot. Later, Tkachuk added two empty-net points, including a goal.

The doubts about Tkachuk’s ability to perform on the big stage are gone — he has six points in his first five playoff games. Ottawa’s stars have started to rise while Toronto’s are known for fumbling under the weight of the playoff duress.

They say pressure is a privilege, but it’s unclear if the Leafs and their fans believe that now that the Senators have trimmed a 3-0 series deficit to 3-2.

When Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas asked Tkachuk post-game whether the Senators had planted a seed of doubt in the Leafs, the Senators captain replied: “I think so.”

Meanwhile, Senators coach Travis Green doesn’t believe his team is feeling any nerves.

“I don’t think our group has really felt pressure from the beginning (of the series)”, he said.

The playoff rookies have become more comfortable each game, from getting blown out in Game 1, to inches away in overtime in Games 2 and 3, to finally getting over the hump in Games 4 and 5.

“We played pretty well the (first) three games,” said Green. “But I do think our individual game, and, collectively, our game has gotten better. I think part of it is just from not playing in the playoffs before and feeling a little more comfortable.

“Our group has a lot of confidence in themselves.”

It was tight-checking, low-event, structured hockey in Game 5, and the Senators got the saves they needed from Linus Ullmark.

Ullmark earned his first career playoff shutout making 29 saves, including eight high-danger chances.

“Our best player tonight was Linus,” said Tkachuk.

Despite the early wobbles in the series, Ullmark says he’s learned to tune out the noise in the playoffs from his prior downfalls. 

“Something that I learned throughout my career as well (is) that (it) doesn’t really matter what you guys say or anything like that,” said Ullmark. “It’s all about what’s being said in the locker room and what we need to be doing, and there’s always going to be people doubting you.”

Ullmark is proving he can bring his top game to the playoffs.

Thomas Chabot is making the most of his long-awaited playoff debut.

Chabot was stellar in Game 5, intercepting pucks and making excellent zone exits while potting his first career playoff goal, even after taking a dangerous hit from Morgan Rielly in the first period.

Chabot played 512 regular-season games before finally appearing in the playoffs this year.

Prior to the post-season, Chabot talked to Sportsnet.ca about his journey.

“We kept finding ways to lose games, you’re sitting at home after you’re like, Why? Why did we lose that? And it’s learning, and it’s all part of it,” Chabot said.

Chabot, like his fellow playoff-inexperienced teammates, looked a step slow to start the series. However, Chabot has rebounded to give his team a big boost.

Chabot’s evolution behind lead defenceman Jake Sanderson has been noticeable in his second-pairing role.

“Yes, I’m not playing the 34 minutes that I used to play before,” Chabot said. “But it’s a lot better to play 24 and being hard on every single shift, and have the energy to defend, have the energy to jump in the rush and create and play my game.”

Chabot played less than 20 minutes on Tuesday, but was impactful much of the time. 

In Games 4 and 5, Chabot was sound defensively with better analytics than the first three games of the series. Chabot’s shot share in the series when he is on the ice at five-on-five is 61 per cent, his expected goals is 57 per cent and the Senators have outshot and out-chanced Toronto in his minutes.

The powerkill is back. In back-to-back games, the Senators have scored incredibly vital short-handed goals. The Senators finished sixth in shorties with nine on the season, so we shouldn’t be surprised they’ve had more success in the playoffs. However, Adam Gaudette setting up Dylan Cozens for a third-period marker was not on the short-handed Bingo goal card.

The two were rarely part of the penalty kill this season and it was Cozens’ first meaningful short-handed shift of the post-season.

“Gaudette has not been doing a lot of (penalty) killing either, (and) Cozens is kind of our next guy up, and obviously a huge goal,” said Green.

The Senators allowed five goals in the first three games down a man, while in the last two they shut out Toronto’s power play while scoring twice. If that’s a trend for the rest of the series, the Senators will love their chances for the upset.

Game 6 in Ottawa on Thursday should be a spectacular display of Senators fandom.

“I expect pure insanity,” said Tkachuk.

Many expected Toronto fans to invade Ottawa for Games 3 and 4, but Senators supporters certainly did their part.

“I don’t know if I’ve coached in a louder building than those two games in Ottawa,” said Green.

After eight long years of suffering, the Senators faithful could watch their team earn the sweetest of wins over their rivals.