Game 42 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs

Coming on the heels of 3 straight losses, Ottawa looks to rebound against Toronto in their 8th Battle of Ontario this season

For whatever reason, the Edmonton Oilers seem to act as if the Ottawa Senators are an ECHL team. Going 9-0-0 against the Senators is something we will probably never see for the rest of our lives, but the good news for Ottawa is that they can move past their last few losses and focus on a team that they have no problem with: the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It’s quite funny how the Oilers seem like the Tampa Bay Lightning on steroids, but the Senators somehow have a 4-3-0 record against the Leafs. The last matchup between these two saw Toronto win 3-2 in overtime in what is now known as the Dorion Gif Game:

Tonight is the 8th of 9 games between these two teams, with the next game coming on the final day of the season. The season is winding down surprisingly quickly, with just 15 games to go, and this is the last game before the trade deadline on Monday.

Will we see Senators moved between now and then? I bet at least one trade is made, but they won’t be nearly as active as previous season. There’s also a chance that Shane Pinto and Jacob Bernard-Docker play on Monday, or at the very least on Wednesday, so the team could look a bit different after tonight’s game.

Here are the Senators lines for today:

Tkachuk - Norris - Paul
Stützle - Amadio - Batherson
Formenton - Tierney - Dadonov
Dzingel - Bishop - C. Brown

Chabot - Zaitsev
Reilly - Zub
Brännström - Gudbranson

Forsberg (starter)
Högberg

And here are the Maple Leafs lines:

Galchenyuk - Matthews - Marner
Mikheyev - Tavares - Hyman
Thornton - Kerfoot - Spezza
Barabanov - Engvall - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

Campbell (starter)

Game Notes:

  • Connor Brown is looking to break the Senators record for most games in a row with a goal, as he sits at 6 (which Drake Batherson tied earlier in the year). Suffice it to say, Brown breaking this record would be an extremely unlikely suspect.
  • Jack Campbell is on a historic run, but the Sens Sickos might have something to say about that:/
  • Clark Bishop cleared waivers today so he is still in the lineup, which was a nice bonus. This might be his last game before Pinto gets into the lineup though. Overall, Bishop has only put up 3 assists in 12 games but he has some of the best shot metrics on the team:/
  • Michael Amadio centres Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson again, which obviously isn’t ideal in the long run. However, Stützle had 6 shots last game, so it’s not as if that line was terrible.
  • As much as I love Nick Paul, he has gone 24 games without a goal and if the team wants to succeed, he needs to be in a bottom-6 role. He’s not a scorer and he shouldn’t be expected to elevate Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk.
  • Erik Brännström stays in the lineup, which is great to see. I’m hoping he will play every game from here on out.
  • Potential last games as Senators include Ryan Dzingel, Chris Tierney, Erik Gudbranson, and Mike Reilly (plus Braydon Coburn and Artem Anisimov who are scratched), although don’t expect more than one or two trades.
  • The Maple Leafs have won five straight and eight of their last nine, so this might be their toughest battle against them this season./

Team Stats

Game 42OttawaSenatorsTorontoMaple Leafs
Category#Rank#Rank
Goals/GP2.5625th3.305th
Goals Against/GP3.7131st2.50T-6th
Shots/GP31.37th31.08th
Shots Against/GP32.729th28.59th
Powerplay %14.726th23.59th
Penalty Kill %76.026th78.518th
Corsi % (5v5 SVA)49.1417th50.3513th
xGF % (5v5 SVA)47.7421st54.313rd

Player Stats

Game 42OttawaSenatorsTorontoMaple Leafs
CategoryPlayer#Player#
GoalsBrady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Connor Brown12Auston Matthews28
AssistsThomas Chabot20Mitch Marner35
PointsBrady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot24Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner48
ShotsBrady Tkachuk167Auston Matthews153
Time on Ice/GPThomas Chabot26:38Morgan Rielly23:51

Subscribe to Silver Seven

Don’t miss out on the latest articles. Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only articles.
jamie@example.com
Subscribe