The 2019-20 National Hockey League regular season is finally here. To kick things off, the Ottawa Senators will take to the ice against their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, tomorrow night at Scotiabank Arena.
While the Senators were able to defeat the Leafs in both preseason contests between the two squads, tomorrow night’s game will undoubtedly prove to be a different challenge. Simply, these teams are heading in different directions; the Senators are rebuilding, while Toronto is looking to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Without the benefit of any context from previous meaningful games, it’s difficult to provide any insights about what we might see on Wednesday. However, based on the Tuesday’s practice, Ottawa’s expected lineup looks something like this:
#Sens Lines Tuesday:
— Brent Wallace (@tsn_wally) October 1, 2019
Tkachuk White Brown
Duclair Tierney Ryan
Ennis Anisimov Batherson
Chlpaik/Boedker Pageau Sabourin
Chabot Zaitsev
Brannstrom Hainsey
Borowiecki Demelo
Goloubef
There’s certainly a skill gap that exists between the lines listed above and what the Maple Leafs are sure to counter with, so it will be incumbent upon Ottawa to catch Toronto off guard if they want to compete. Sometimes the plucky, hard-working underdog can surprise early in the season before high-octane teams kick things into gear. That’s really the only chance this Ottawa squad has, as the Maple Leafs, at least on paper, have better forwards, a better defence core, and better goaltending.
Even so, there’s no denying that this is an exciting time of year; that’s true not only for fans, but for players who made the team out of camp. Scott Sabourin, as an example, is set to make his NHL debut:
DJ Smith confirms Scott Sabourin will make his NHL debut Wednesday night in Toronto #Sens
— Kyle Bukauskas (@SNkylebukauskas) September 30, 2019
In closing: Welcome to the 2019-20 season, my friends! Let’s enjoy it.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart was the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz from 2012 to 2015, and has been the Ottawa Senators writer since September 2019. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.