Canadian Tire Centre; Ottawa, ON
7:00 PM ET; CBC (National)

SBN's Don't Go Here; They'll Ban You: Silver Seven SNES Sens

Matchup

The Leafs travel to Ottawa to dunk on their little brother at 1-on-1 play the Senators. The teams last played one another on October 10, the Leafs' third game of the season; Ottawa won 5-4 in a shootout. That game, however, was in Toronto; this will be the Leafs' first visit to some vacant parking lot pretty much in the middle of nowhere Ottawa. The Leafs will get to play in front of more Leafs fans than their own arena Senators fans who can only be described as crybaby losers who can't deal with the fact the Leafs are more popular everywhere, including their own city passionate, knowledgeable hockey fans.

The Leafs, despite a 1-7-2 tailspin prior to the All-Star break, have booked points in 5 of their last 7 games (3-2-2 record). James Reimer has looked to recover from a groin injury seamlessly, and is a .932 SV% on the season. Despite the obvious talent deficiencies, the Leafs look good for at least a loser point most nights that they can score even two goals. Problem is, the team isn't good enough to do that consistently except against the Sens because their defense would make Roman Polak look good.

Meanwhile, the Sens have struggled, going 11-17-1 since December 1; they've lost five of their last six and seven of their last ten to no one's surprise because regression is a bitch. Goaltending has been an issue as it has every other year for Craig Anderson all season because they entrusted the net to a guy who had 24 games despite being mediocre at best in the AHL.

The Sens leading scorer is Erik Karlsson to no one's surprise because he's the only Senator most people can name with 55 points, while their highest-scoring forward is noted Trump supporter, Cam Newton-hater, and probable mayonnaise-chugger Bobby Ryan with 44. You should also watch out for Mike Hoffman, who is probably the most underrated forward in the NHL because he plays for a team even more irrelevant than Winnipeg.

Probable Leafs Lineup

Okay, let's set up some line combos....*spins wheel*. Reimer gets the start, because he is very good what with stopping the pucks and whatnot.

Holland - Kadri - Komarov

Grabner - Bozak - Parenteau

Matthias - Spaling - Winnik

Lupul - Froese - Boyes

Hunwick - Rielly

Phaneuf - Corrado

Gardiner - Polak

Reimer

Probable Ottawa Lineup

Kyle Turris, who is injured, remains a gametime decision. Apparently our old pal Clarke MacArthur is also injured, too? Man, I've paid a lot of attention to Ottawa this year, obviously. The Sens have called up two AHL forwards as opposed to their defense, in which everyone not named Erik Karlsson is from the AHL to handle injuries.

Per Bruce Garrioch of the Sens Pom Pom Waving Fanboy Club Ottawa Sun, here are the combos at today's morning skate:

Mike Hoffman - Mika Zibanejad - Bobby Ryan

Zack Smith - Pierre-Gabriel Pageau - Mark Stone

Shane Prince - Curtis Lazar - Alex Chiasson

Ryan Dzingel - Nick Paul - Chris Neil (who has not evolved from the cro-magnon era and inexplicably is still in the NHL)

Marc Methot - Erik Karlsson

Mark Borowiecki - Cody Ceci

Patrick Wiercioch - Chris Wideman

Craig Anderson

Prediction

Some of this:

And this:

And this:

Or, y'know, Leafs win 3-2 in OT. Something like that.

Which playoff series do you remind Sens fans of to make them the maddest?

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