The Toronto Maple Leafs kick off their preseason with a back-to-back battle against rivals Ottawa Senators on Tuesday at the ACC.
Tuesday's game vs. Ottawa starts off a grueling five games in five nights schedule for the Leafs. They take on Ottawa once again on Wednesday, followed by the Flyers in London, Ontario on Thursday. The blue and white then head back to the ACC to play Philadelphia on Friday, finishing off on Saturday in Buffalo with a date with the Sabres.
Toronto will send a relatively younger group of forwards, with a more experienced blue line to the ice in their preseason debut. This is the projected Leafs lineup:
Forwards
Kris Versteeg - Nazem Kadri - Colby Armstrong
Jay Rosehill - Christian Hanson - Mike Brown
Jerry D'Amigo - Brayden Irwin - Marcel Mueller
Ryan Hamilton - Mike Zigomanis - Joey Crabb
Defence
Carl Gunnarson - Dion Phaneuf
Brett Lebda - Tomas Kaberle
Simon Gysbers - Matt Lashoff
Goalies: Jonas Gustavsson, Jussi Rynnas
Jonas Gustavsson will get the start in net. However both goalies will see action as Jussi Rynnas will take over for Gustavsson at the halfway point of the game.
Of all the offseason acquisitions made by Leafs GM Brian Burke, only Clarke MacArthur is not in the lineup.
Following Tuesday morning's skate, Leafs head coach Ron Wilson stated to the media that rookie Nazem Kadri will play in three of Toronto's first five preseason games. He will not play any back-to-back games however. This means that in addition to Tuesday's game vs. Ottawa, Kadri will see action Thursday in London against the Flyers, as well as Saturday in Buffalo.
The Leafs will face a similarly young, preseason squad for the Ottawa Senators. The Sens will ice a team without Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fischer, Pascal Leclaire, Jason Spezza, and Sergei Gonchar.
Ottawa Senators Lineup
Forwards
Bobby Butler, Nick Foligno, Matt Hoffman, Ryan Keller, Corey Locke, Chris Neil, Ryan Shannon, Zack Smith, Tim Spencer, Roman Wick, Jesse Winchester
Defence
Andre Benoit, Chris Campoli, Matt Carkner, Jared Cowan, David Hale, Brian Lee
Goalies
Robin Lehner
Brian Elliott
Sens vs. Leafs gets underway at 7pm. The game can be seen on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario HD, as well as streaming live on MapleLeafs.com. The NHL Network US will have the game at 10pm ET.
For up-to-the-minute Leafs news and updates, be sure to follow Ken Beckett on Twitter @KenBeckett 
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