Game 44 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs

The Ottawa Senators will look to end a three game road trip with three wins when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. The Senators followed up a 6-4 win in St. Louis on Tuesday with a 2-0 win in Lumbus on Thursday. The Leafs lost 5-2 at home to the Rangers and sit two points behind the Senators.

There will be no changes to the lineup with Mark Borowiecki still out with the flu. Mike Condon will start again. Here are the lines and pairings for the Senators.

Smith - Brassard - Stone
Dzingel - Turris - Ryan
Hoffman - Pageau - Pyatt
Kelly - Lazar - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Claesson - Wideman

Condon (starter)
Driedger

• With the Sens level on points with the Bruins and having six games in hand, that is roughly equal to a seven point lead for a playoff spot with 33 games left. Ottawa really should make the playoffs now.
• The Sens and Leafs meeting in the first round is becoming increasingly likely with a decent chance of the winner playing the Habs in round two. That could be tasty!
• Erik Karlsson has not scored a goal since 7 December but he does have five assists in his last four games.
• Mike Condon's save percentage is now at 91.9% for the season. He is doing an excellent job with a very heavy workload.
• Karlsson has 37 points this season while the rest of the defence has 41.
• Mike Hoffman has nine out of Ottawa's 23 power play goals this season.
• The Senators allowed a lot of shots, but managing to not get blown out on the road against a tough team while battling the flu was very impressive.
• The Leafs struggled without the injured Morgan Rielly against the Rangers. The Leafs have a lot of offensive talent, but their defence is probably their biggest weakness.
• Auston Matthews is third in the NHL with 22 goals this season. His 19 even strength goals are also second in the NHL.
• Kyle Turris is fifth in the league with 15 even strength goals. He has only one power play goal./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from Corsica.