Leafs vs Senators: Game # 45

Time: 7:30PM

Location: Air Canada Centre

Broadcast/Streaming: Sportsnet (main)

Opponent SBNation Site: Silver Seven Sens

GAME CHAT IS HERE

The Senators are tired. So very tired.

Their season is done and they know it. They are sleepwalking through games at this point. Last night they played against the Blackhawks who scored on them five times in the second period alone on their way to an 8-2 win. You have to feel bad for the dozen Senators fans who made the trek out to a cold and windswept Kanata to see such a garbage game.

Oh. Wait. No you don’t. LOL SENATORS FANS!

Now the Senators are coming to face a rested Maple Leafs team. Sounds like we’re looking at an easy win tonight, right Arvind?

Look, we all know how this is gonna go. They’re gonna bore us for a period, we’re gonna fart around in our own zone and give them the lead, and they’re gonna sit back on it. Lets not fight it.

Oh, right. It’s a Boucher team. Get ready for Trap Hockey™. Appointment television to be sure.

Toronto Maple Leafs (from practice yesterday)

Forward Lines

Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Matt Martin - Frederik Gauthier - Connor Brown

Josh Leivo, Dominic Moore

Defence Pairings

Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak

Travis Dermott

Goaltenders

Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney

Ottawa Senators (from yesterday - to be updated as Ryan out)

Forward Lines

Ryan is definitely out, and Filip Chlapik is in.

Mike Hoffman - Matt Duchene - Bobby Ryan
Ryan Dzingel - Derick Brassard - Mark Stone
Tom Pyatt - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Zack Smith
Gabriel Dumont - Colin White - Alexandre Burrows

Defence Pairings

Thomas Chabot - Erik Karlsson
Dion Phaneuf - Cody Ceci
Ben Harpur - Fredrik Claesson

Goaltenders

Craig Anderson - confirmed starter
Mike Condon

Bobby Ryan sustained a hand injury during last night’s game. It was severe enough that he was confirmed out of tonight’s game, throwing their top line into disarray. It is not yet clear how they will shuffle players around to accommodate his absence.

The Senators sit second last in the east and third last in the whole league. The main problem is not hard to spot.

Craig Anderson Sv% 0.897
Mike Condon Sv% 0.894

When a team is past the half way mark of the season and neither the starting goalie or the backup has a save percentage above 900, you know they’re in big trouble, regardless of whatever situation adjustments or exclusions you want to apply.

Meanwhile, for the Leafs, goaltending is a driver of success. As Katya noted yesterday,  “goaltending has stabilized at above expectation on the highest shots on goal volume for a single goalie in the league.” Good job, Freddie.

Maple Leafs 2017 second quarter report: half good, half bad, all fun

Babcock has had a taste of Dermott for two games on his on and off side. Leafs brass reportedly like what they have seen, but they love Borgman more. Dermott is expected to sit tonight, and resistance will once again be futile.

The bye week will begin tomorrow. Enjoy tonight’s game as there won’t be another until next week on Tuesday.

GO LEAFS GO!

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