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On Friday night, the Ottawa Senators briefly unseated the Boston Bruins from their throne atop the Northeast division lead. After Boston's 3-2 shootout victory against Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, Ottawa will need to respond with points on Hockey Night in Canada against Toronto.
Toronto and Ottawa will meet for the sixth and final time in the season series tonight, with the Senators leading three wins to two. The most recent match-up between these two sides - also played at Scotiabank Place - went the way of Toronto in a 5-0 drubbing, with James Reimer posting a forty-nine save shutout.
Since that victory nearly a month and a half ago, the two Ontario-based clubs have trended in different directions. Ottawa's surged near the top of the Eastern Conference, and Toronto's embarked on one of the most precipitous losing stretches of the Brian Burke era. The Maple Leafs' inexplicable nosedive will force them to again miss the post-season.
Still, there's plenty to play for in Toronto, although such a notion may disappoint the fans who'd prefer to lose outright with the draft lottery on their collective minds. The Maple Leafs - with a win tonight - can draw the season-series against their rival even, and potentially play the role of spoiler in Ottawa's quest for a top-three seed.
Ottawa, much like every other game against Toronto this season, will be forced to play on the second-half of a back-to-back after Friday night's tilt vs. Montreal. The Senators 2-1 extra-time victory on a missile from Filip Kuba was another step in applying pressure on the defending Stanley Cup champions, but the Bruins answered right back with the above-mentioned shootout victory over the Flyers.
Between the crease tonight, expect James Reimer for Toronto and Ben Bishop for Ottawa. Reimer's numbers have been a bit disappointing this season, with a 12-12-4 record, .901 save percentage, and 3.03 GAA. However, he's a career 4-1-1 (6 GP) vs. the Ottawa Senators. Ben Bishop's numbers have been solid since his acquisition from the St. Louis Blues, with a 3-0-2 record, .926 save percentage, and 1.92 GAA.
Bishop would be wise to come out with another strong performance, as his audition may be drawing to a close. Craig Anderson's reportedly recovering well from his hand injury, and could return as early as the end of next week.
As for the lineup changes, don't expect a ton of tweaking by either Randy Carlyle or Paul MacLean. Carlyle may opt to roll with seven defensemen and eleven forwards tonight as he did against Tampa Bay.
Paul MacLean's club should have a similar look to the one employed against Montreal, although there's a chance he could flip the likes of Bobby Butler and Kaspars Daugavins for tonight. Also, watch for MacLean's line-juggling mid-game. Last night, MacLean moved Colin Greening down, playing with Zack Smith and Erik Condra temporarily. While that may seem like a demotion in nature, the trio played real well last night, and MacLean must've liked the chemistry he saw.
Puck drops at 7:00 on CBC.
Toronto Maple Leafs - unconfirmed
MacArthur-Bozak-Kessel
Ashton-Grabovski-Frattin
Crabb-Steckel-Connolly
Armstrong-Lombardi-X
Gunnarsson-Phaneuf
Liles-Komisarek
Gardiner-Schenn
Franson
Ottawa Senators - unconfirmed
Greening-Spezza-Michalek
Klinkhammer-Turris-Alfredsson
Foligno-O'Brien-Neil
Butler-Smith-Condra
Kuba-Karlsson
Cowen-Gonchar
Phillips-Gilroy
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