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Rielly out for Battle of Ontario; Leafs vs. Senators

January 20, 2018, 5:35 PM ET [448 Comments]
Mike Augello
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UPDATE - Morgan Rielly not taking pre-game warm ups in Ottawa, which means Andreas Borgman is in for the Leafs. Per TSN's Kristen Shilton, Jake Gardiner will be paired with Ron Hainsey, Travis Dermott will play alongside Connor Carrick and Andreas Borgman will be on the bottom pairing with Roman Polak.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata on Saturday in the third installment of the Battle of Ontario, but in spite of being comfortably positioned in a playoff spot and the Senators wallowing near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, it is Ottawa who has had a decided advantage, winning five of their last six games and both previous meetings this season.

The Sens are expected to be a club very busy before the February 26th trade deadline, trailing the last playoff spot by 14 points and facing budgetary cutbacks implemented by owner Eugene Melnyk.

Speculation continues to swirl around Erik Karlsson’s availability, as Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion said he would be open to listening to trade offers for the two-time Norris Trophy winner last week. Former Leaf captain Dion Phaneuf, Cody Ceci, Mike Hoffman and Matt Duchene are all rumored to be on the market as well.

The Leafs are enduring their roughest patch of the season, going nine straight games without a regulation win (2-3-4) and four defeats in a row; the last being a 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

After Frederik Andersen’s comments about accountability following another blown lead on Thursday, the club showed support for their goaltender and hope that they can turn things around against their provincial rival.

“My favorite thing about (the recent struggles) is the internal accountability that seems to be coming. When you are a team with no expectation, there’s none of that.” head coach Mike Babcock said after Saturday’s morning skate. “We’re all in the same boat – coaching staff, trainers, sports science, players. We win together, we lose together. When we don’t get it done, it’s on all of us.”



Lineup changes for Toronto will be contingent on the availability of defenseman Morgan Rielly, who skated on Saturday morning after missing practice on Friday and will be a game time decision.

Rielly suffered an upper body injury late in the second period on Thursday after colliding with Flyers forward Jakob Voracek and saw limited ice time in the third period.

The Leafs did not call up another blueliner from the Toronto Marlies on an emergency basis for the game, which means that Andreas Borgman would dress and step on the Leafs top pairing with veteran Ron Hainsey, while rookie Travis Dermott would remain on the bottom pairing with Roman Polak.

Mitch Marner, who was responsible for Vince Dunn’s overtime winner against St. Louis on Tuesday and had the puck stolen from him on Nolan Patrick’s goal against the Flyers skated on the fourth line with Frederik Gauthier and Matt Martin, while Connor Brown was promoted to the unit with James van Riemsdyk and tyler Bozak.

Craig Anderson (who made 45 saves in a 4-3 win against the Leafs on January 10) will get the start for Ottawa, while Andersen will make his ninth straight start for Toronto.

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