Maple Leafs are looking to take another step toward blocking the home ice advantage in the first round of the NHL playoffs when they visit the Ottawa Senators for the first of three games against opponents who are nearly eliminated from the playoff qualifiers (19:00) ., Sportsnet).
With this upcoming Ottawa-NYI-Philadelphia stretch ahead of a trip that will see the Leafs play four games in six days – including against the Lightning, Panthers and Capitals – taking full advantage of the weaker opposition before setting off, will be important if the Leafs want to ensure that games 1, 2, 5 and 7 are played at Scotiabank Arena in the first round.
It may sound a bit trivial – and it’s probably not worth giving priority to a break for some of the team’s most trusted players where possible in the final stretch – but it’s worth noting that Scotiabank’s Leafs are 27-8-2 Arena this season and the organization has not won 7 away games since Nikolai Borshchevsky’s victory at OT in Detroit in 1993 (a period that includes losses to Boston x3, the Flyers, the Devils and the Blackhawks).
For the senators, this figure is a game they will face, as they know about the rivalry and the fact that there will be an influx of Leafs fans who take over the rink at the Canadian Tire Center tonight; this will be the closest thing this season to the spring atmosphere of the playoffs for them.
Ottawa will be left without a blue line, which they will eat in minutes, with Thomas Shabot probably out by the end of the season due to a broken arm, which leaves their blue line looking thin and vulnerable to a deep attack by Leafs. However, the senators have collected 5-3-0 in April so far, including a 3-2 victory over Boston on Thursday. Predicted starter Anton Forsberg gave them a chance to fight in most of their starts and maintained a really stable game in the second half of the season with a saving rate of 0.923 and a record for victory (13-11-2) in 2022.
At the other end of the rink, Eric Kelgren will seek to return after a loss to Buffalo, which was by no means his fault, but he saw four goals go past him in 27 shots. The organization has given priority to Campbell’s holiday ahead of the playoffs and may return to Kelgren in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The other confirmed lineup for Maple Leafs is Justin Hall, who re-joins TJ Brody, a pair in which Hall played his best hockey this season (a common theme for Brody’s partners throughout the year). Jake Mouzin will be out of the matches this weekend due to a serious injury that is not related to his concussions.
Quotes for the day of the game
Senators head coach DJ Smith on the threat of Leafs’ powerful game:
They can light up every night. Players who are there can make games and shoot puck. They can go from different countries. They have many different options.
This powerful game has been together for a long time with the main boys. They read what you will give them and make adjustments quickly. For us we have to execute two or fewer penalties.
Smith on how close Senators Drake Butterson, Tim Stutzl, Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris are to the stratosphere of the Left Big Four in Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Austin Matthews and William Nylander:
It took Matthews, Mitch, and Willie some time to get to where they are now. They are much older than these boys. To get there, you have to be the best in the league. Matthews is the best goal scorer in the league. Mitch has the most points from each day or whatever.
You don’t want to compare anyone to anyone else. There are four of us, but let’s not forget that Shabo and some other boys are coming. I think they are as talented and experienced as anyone.
How hard will we work now? What are we going to do to push us through the next hump? Of course, the ingredients are there. They love to play hockey and they love to be together. They are all best friends. At this stage it is a good recipe.
Key for the preparation for the senators:
They go to work. They will compete. They have young high-class skills. It’s not much different in terms of the skill that Buffalo carries – very similar in that sense. Lots of high class drafts. Very dangerous power game.
Here in Ottawa is Saturday night. I’m sure it will be an energy building. This will be a good match for our team and their team.
I think the biggest thing we’ve learned here is to talk less about the opponent, where they are in the standings and what can happen. Let’s focus more on our game.
Key for the strength of the team, which has slightly decreased in the last three games:
We’ve been thinking and talking about our power game lately. We didn’t like it last time, but we came back, dug it up and spent some time with Spencer. [Carbery].
How quickly we forget that before we came back and played these last three games on home ice, we went through a period of eight games, where we were at 42%. We won’t go overboard with one difficult little slide here. We just have to make sure we get back to it.
Keefe for the balanced attack that the presence of William Nilander creates on the third line:
Having a threat like Willy on the third line makes it a little more challenging for teams that usually rely on their fours to play against your best players and get minutes for their bottom pair against lower-ranked boys. This makes it a little more challenging. As a result, we get some good matches for Will.
The other part is that when we split it, the line between Tavares and Nylander was not going very well. This changed the dynamics a bit. We’ve liked the results ever since. We liked how the players reacted and we liked how the team reacted shift after shift.
Odds for a match for the first round
Toronto Maple Leafs Designed Lines
Forwards # 58 Michael Bunting – # 34 Austin Matthews – # 16 Mitch Marner # 65 Ilya Mikheev – # 91 John Tavares – # 15 Alex Kerfut # 88 William Nilander – # 64 David Kampf – # 47 Pierre Engwal # 26 Nick Abrusese * – # 11 Colin Blackwell * – # 19 Jason Spca *
* the fourth line will be confirmed later in the day
Defenders # 44 Morgan Riley – # 46 Ilya Lubushkin # 78 TJ Brody – # 3 Justin Hall # 55 Mark Giordano – # 37 Timothy Lillegren
Goalkeepers Start: # 50 Eric Kelgren # 36 Jack Campbell
Extras: Kyle Clifford, Wayne Simmonds, Christians Rubins Injured: Jake Muzin LTIR: Ondrej Kase, Rasmus Sandin, Petr Mrazek
Ottawa Senators Designed Lines
Forwards # 7 Brady Tkachuk – # 9 Josh Norris – # 28 Connor Brown # 10 Alex Formonton – # 18 Tim Stuttle – # 19 Drake Butterson # 71 Chris Tierney – # 36 Colin White – # 17 Adam Godet # 45 Parker Kelly – ## 27 Dylan Gambrell – № 16 Auston Watson
Defender # 26 Eric Branstrom – # 2 Artem Zub # 15 Michael Del Zoto – # 23 Travis Hamonic # 5 Nick Holden – # 22 Nikita Zaitsev
Goalkeepers Starter: # 31 Anton Forsberg # 32 Philip Gustavson
Wounded: Thomas Chabot, Matt Murray, Shane Pinto, Mathieu Joseph, Tyler Ennis, Jake Sanderson
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