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Maple Leafs Game Day - Game 52: Leafs vs. Senators

February 4, 2012, 12:33 PM ET [186 Comments]
Ken Beckett
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After earning three of four points in a back-to-back earlier this week, the Toronto Maple Leafs return to action as they visit the nation's capital to take on the Ottawa Senators.

This is the fifth of six installments in the 'Battle of Ontario' this season. The Senators have won three-straight against the Leafs after Toronto won the first game of the season series. Ottawa's most recent win was a 3-2 victory in Toronto on Jan. 17.

Previously this week, the Maple Leafs had the unenviable task of going into a home-and-home series against a Pittsburgh Penguins squad which had won seven in a row. The results were positive however as Toronto took three of four points from the red-hot Pens to move up into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. As of Saturday morning, the Blue and White are the eighth seed in the East, one point back of the New Jersey Devils and three points behind the sixth place Senators. Toronto also has three games at hand over their provincial rivals.

One of the factors in the Leafs' success against Pittsburgh was the play of pending unrestricted free agent Mikhail Grabovski. The 28-year old Belarussian had two goals and an assist in the first game of the series, while registering an assist on the lone goal in the second game to give Toronto the 1-0 win. The reigning first star of the week is riding a four-game point streak, collecting nine points (3G, 6A) during that stretch.

Three Leafs players make their return to Ottawa after enjoying the All-Star festivities in the nation's capital last weekend. After Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul played in the All-Star game, the top line duo of Kessel and Lupul had relatively quiet weeks offensively.

Phaneuf had an assist in Toronto's 5-4 shootout loss to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, but both Lupul and Kessel were held without a point in both games of the home-and-home series. The duo also went without a point in the Leafs' last game before the All-Star break, going without a point in three straight games for just the second time this season.

Neither player has gone longer than three games without registering a point at any time this season and will look for a game against the Sens to get them back on track. Kessel leads all Leafs with six points (3G, 3A) against Ottawa this season. Lupul is a close second with five points 3G, 2A) in four games played against Toronto's provincial rivals.

Making just his second start of the 2012 calendar year, James Reimer made the most of the opportunity on Wednesday, stopping 25 shots to pick up his second shutout of the season in the 1-0 win over Pittsburgh.

Reimer will get the start on Saturday in Ottawa, marking the first time he has made back-to-back starts since Dec. 29-31. In five career games against the Sens, the Morweena, Manitoba native is 3-1-1 with a 2.17 goals-against average and .917 save percentage with one shutout.

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Matthew Lombardi - Tim Connolly - Joey Crabb
Mike Brown - David Steckel - Colby Armstrong

Defence
Dion Phaneuf - Carl Gunnarsson
John-Michael Liles - Cody Franson
Jake Gardiner - Luke Schenn

Goalies
James Reimer
Jonas Gustavsson

The Ottawa Senators come into Saturday night's match-up riding a five-game losing streak, most recently suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to the visiting New York Islanders one night ago.

Going into the third period, Ottawa had themselves a 1-0 lead, but Matt Martin tied up the game early at the 5:27 mark. In overtime, Mark Eaton registered the winner, collecting his first goal of the season in his 600th career game.

This is not the first time the Sens have gone through an elongated slump this season. They dropped five of six to start the season and also went through a five-game losing streak at the beginning of November. Following that losing streak, Ottawa went on quite an impressive tear, going on a 20-7-5 run from Nov. 12-Jan. 19 before falling into their current five-game slide.

Two of the Sens' All-Stars and most veteran players have regulary found success in their careers against the Leafs, producing at around a point per game pace. In 73 career games against Toronto, Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson has registered 32 goals and 38 assists for 70 points. While Jason Spezza has 52 points (15G, 37A) in 50 career games against the Blue and White.

Alfredsson ranks second on the team in points against the Leafs this season, registering three goals and an assist in three games. It is fellow All-Star Erik Karlsson who ranks first, collecting five assists in four games versus Toronto. The 21-year old Swedish defenceman has been riding a hot streak since mid-December, totaling 22 points (6G, 16A) in his last 21 games.

While the Sens suffered an overtime loss one night ago, the play of Craig Anderson in net was good enough to earn the 30-year old netminder second star of the game honours as he stopped 30 of 32 shots.

Anderson will make his 17th-straight start in net on Saturday against Toronto. The Park Ridge, Illinois native has played in a league-high 49 games and is on pace to appear in 73 games. That would top his previous single-season high of 71 games played with the Colorado Avalanche during the 2009-10 season.

In nine career games against the Leafs, Anderson is 6-2-0 while posting a 2.28 goals-against average and .935 save percentage with one shutout.

Ottawa Senators Projected Lines

Forwards
Erik Condra - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Jim O'Brien

Defence
Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Goalies
Craig Anderson
Alex Auld

Leafs vs. Senators gets underway at 7PM ET. The game will be broadcast on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, RDS, and AM640.

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