Game 31 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators Versus Toronto Maple Leafs

After three consecutive losses to the demon in orange, it feels good to have the boys back in town where they’ve fared slightly better than they have out west. This roster still has a lot of moving pieces right now due to injury and ongoing line-juggling from coach Smith but Beata has the recap tonight so don’t discount the miraculous, and never write-off our large chaotic sons when given the opportunity to publicly humiliate the boys in blue.

Lines:

No word yet from the Sens but this was the projection from the last game:

This is how Toronto lined up yesterday:

#Leafs lines in warmup (vs. WPG):

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Thornton-Tavares-Nylander
Mikheyev-Engvall-Kerfoot
Vesey-Boyd-Spezza

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Bogosian

Andersen starts
Hutchinson

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) March 13, 2021

Game Notes:

• Per the team, Ottawa will rock their red third jerseys tonight at the CTC.
• The Ottawa Senators will debut their fan cutouts tonight in a really cool effort to embrace fan enthusiasm and raise funds for a great cause.
• Joey Daccord succumbed to the condition that is porous Ottawa Senators goaltending in 2021 with a rough night in Edmonton. Joey has still looked like Ottawa’s best option in his small sample thus far so we’ll see if the coaches give him a shot to regain his confidence tonight.
• Clark Bishop had a pleasantly surprising debut with the Senators as one of Ottawa’s best performers in terms of five-on-five corsi- and expected goals-for, albeit in limited minutes.
• Among the injuries to consider to tonight’s game: Colin White, Artem Anisimov, Ryan Dzingel, and whether coach Smith implements a seven-defender lineup and what that implies for Christian Wolanin who has had limited opportunities through the first half of the season. Erik Brännström inexcusably remains on the team’s taxi squad while the Sens have called Clark Bishop and Michael Peca up to the NHL roster.
• If anyone needs some extra motivation to watch the game tonight, Ottawa does have the restedness advantage to go with home ice as Toronto played (and lost!) against Winnipeg last night while Ottawa had a travel day./

Stats

Team Stats

Player Stats

Catch the game at 7PM EST on SN, TVA, and TSN1200