Senators at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: The Toronto Maple Leafs are in familiar territory -
out of the playoff picture. The Maple Leafs will look to avoid a third
straight loss Tuesday when they host the Ottawa Senators. The Battle of
Ontario may be just what the Leafs need to kick-start a drive to the
playoffs and qualify for the first time since 2003-04. Ottawa has won
two of the first three of six meetings this season. The two rivals have
not played each other in more than two months. Nick Foligno led the
offense with two goals as the Senators won 5-2 at Toronto in the last
meeting Nov. 12. Goalie Craig Anderson made 31 saves. Toronto won the
first contest 6-5 at home on the back of Phil Kessel’s hat trick and
James Reimer's 27 saves.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SNET East, TVA, SNET Ontario
ABOUT THE SENATORS (25-16-6):
Ottawa, 8-1-1 in its last 10 games, is coming off a 2-0 home loss to
the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Anderson made 32 saves, and was the lone
standout. He is 23-12-4 this season and was named the NHL’s First Star
of the Week after posting three wins, including a 3-0 shutout over the
New York Rangers. Anderson, who was the NHL’s Third Star the previous
week, is 8-0-1 in his last nine games. His backup, Alex Auld, is 1-2-3
this season.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (22-17-5): Toronto, ninth in the Eastern
Conference, is coming off a 3-0 loss at home to the Rangers on Saturday.
The night before, the Leafs lost 3-2 at Buffalo. Jonas Gustavsson made
27 and 22 saves in the respective games. The Rangers outshot the Leafs
30-20, and limited them to only 12 through the first 40 minutes. Joffrey
Lupul and Kessel have been held off the scoresheet for three
consecutive games. Reimer will get the start in net for the Leafs after
Gustavsson started the last six in a row.
OVERTIME:
1. Toronto center Tyler Bozak will be back between
Lupul and Kessel Tuesday after missing the last seven games with an
upper body injury.
2. Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner will also be in the lineup. He was recalled from the minors one day after being sent down.
3. Ottawa snipers Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza were both minus-2 against Winnipeg.