Senators at Maple Leafs
The Ottawa Senators look to bounce back from a rare loss and maintain their hold on a postseason berth when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Ottawa had its season-high seven-game winning streak halted Thursday by the New York Rangers, who handed Andrew Hammond his first regulation loss in the NHL with a 5-1 victory. The defeat was just the third in 18 games (15-2-1) for the Senators, who are even in points with Boston for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference but hold the slot based on having played one fewer game.
Toronto continues its four-game homestand having lost seven contests in a row. The Maple Leafs' offense has yet to show up at Air Canada Centre as the club dropped the first two games of its home string by a combined 6-2 score. Ottawa hosted each of the first three contests of the five-game season series, dropping a 5-3 decision on Nov. 9 before topping Toronto 4-3 and 5-3 on Jan. 21 and March 21, respectively.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC, TVA2
ABOUT THE SENATORS (37-25-11): Coach Dave Cameron has yet to decide whether he will go back to Hammond against Toronto or give Chris Driedger his first NHL start. Hammond, 27, dropped to 14-1-1 with Thursday's setback, falling one game shy of Patrick Lalime's record of 16 decisions to start a career without a regulation loss (14-0-2 with Pittsburgh in 1996-97). The 20-year-old Driedger, who was recalled from Evansville of the ECHL last week, stopped all 10 shots he faced against New York in his NHL debut.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (27-42-6): Toronto has not won since outlasting Buffalo in a shootout on March 11 and hasn't posted a regulation victory since edging Florida 3-2 eight days earlier. Nazem Kadri is eligible to return to the lineup Saturday as he finished serving his league-imposed four-game suspension in the loss to Florida on Thursday. The 24-year-old center is fourth on the team in both goals (16) and points (36).
OVERTIME
1. The Senators enter Saturday with a four-game road winning streak and are 8-0-1 in their last nine away from home.
2. The Maple Leafs recalled T.J. Brennan from the Toronto Marlies and assigned fellow D Andrew MacWilliam and C Greg McKegg to the American Hockey League club.
3. Ottawa has lost in regulation only three times in its last 22 contests (17-3-2).