Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs

07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena

Watch on: CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP as well as CBC Gem, free streaming in Canada

Opponent’s Site: Silver Seven

The Leafs last game was at home on October 13 against the Washington Capitals, and the Leafs won by a score of 3-2. The Ottawa Senators last played an away game on October 13 against the Buffalo Sabres. The Senators lost by a score of 4-1.

Toronto Maple Leafs win their home opener

The big news out of morning skate is about Matt Murray:

If Ilya Samsonov has to play, the Leafs could be forced to use an EBUG of some kind if Murray can’t even dress as backup, not least because Erik Källgren left the Marlies opener last night after being run over. His status isn’t known, but watch the goalies in today’s afternoon Marlies game at home for some clues.

If Murray is just out as a precaution, then the Leafs have zero cap space and cannot recall a goalie (if they even had one, since the only other NHL-contracted goalie they have is Joe Woll, and he’s still recovering from offseason surgery). If Källgren is okay, then he still cannot be recalled under the roster emergency rules until the Leafs actually dress a short roster.

This 20-man business is all fun and cap-space games until a goalie is just a little bit hurt. It’s only a disaster when the second goalie is also a little bit hurt.

That said, considering the Andersen issue, the Campbell conundrum and the Mrázek mess, maybe don’t play that little bit hurt goalie in game three of the season.

Them

Ottawa is what we saw in preseason: a team that’s better than last year, but not deep enough to do much more than play spoiler. Like a lot of teams, they will rise or fall on their goaltending. Well, maybe don’t fall on the goalie directly, we don’t recommend that.

Lines

Yesterday’s practice lines from Daily Faceoff were:

Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stützle - Drake Batherson
Alex DeBrincat - Josh Norris - Claude Giroux
Tyler Motte - Shane Pinto - Mathieu Joseph
Parker Kelly - Mark Kastelic - Austin Watson

Thomas Chabot - Artem Zub
Jake Sanderson - Travis Hamonic
Erik Brännström - Nick Holden

Anton Forsberg
Magnus Hellberg

Cam Talbot is currently injured, and is listed as day-to-day.

Us

The Maple Leafs are in boring mode where the same lines go out in the same configuration. The drama is all in net. But looming over the horizon is Timothy Liljegren.

If a goalie injury doesn’t blow up this happy group of 20 players, the return of Liljegren will. That’s a future worry, though, and Liljegren’s return isn’t imminent. Tonight is all about getting another win.

Lines

Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
William Nylander - John Tavares - Denis Malgin
Pierre Engvall - Alex Kerfoot - Calle Järnkrok
Zach Aston-Reese - David Kämpf - Nicolas Aubé-Kubel

Morgan Rielly - TJ Brodie
Jake Muzzin - Justin Holl
Mark Giordano - Rasmus Sandin

Matt Murray or Ilya Samsonov, or maybe you, if you bring your pads to the game

The Game

What can we even say at this point? We hope Matt Murray isn’t hurt before the season is a week old. We hope Ilya Samsonov is the guy who finished off the Capitals, not the guy who started against them. We hope the Leafs don’t repeat their mistakes of the past and make minor injuries into lingering problems.

While all that’s on our minds, and hopefully not on the minds of the players, it would be good to see some more focus on puck control and offence generation. The Leafs beat the Capitals, legitimately, but that was not the red hot offensive juggernaut the team is capable of being, and who we should expect them to be.

Go Leafs Go! Make their goalie cry for a change.

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