Maple Leafs at Senators
The Ottawa Senators feel good about themselves as they try for their sixth straight victory over the red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Ottawa, which also puts its five-game home winning streak against Toronto on the line, is coming off a 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh four days after ending a four-game slide with a 5-3 win over Edmonton on Sunday, while the Maple Leafs improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine with Friday's 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
“We’re confident that when we’re playing our best, we can play with anybody,” Ottawa's Bobby Ryan told reporters after scoring his eighth goal of the season Thursday. Mike Condon (10-6-3, 2.25 goals-against average, .922 save percentage) is expected to make his ninth straight start for the Senators with Craig Anderson still away from the team to be with his wife, who is battling cancer. Toronto has recorded two power-play goals in each of its last four games and moved within two points of the Senators for third place in the Atlantic Division, while Ottawa hasn't allowed a power-play goal in five contests (13 chances). The Senators won the first of four meetings this season, 5-4 in overtime in the 2016-17 opener as Kyle Turris' goal spoiled Auston Matthews' four-goal performance in his NHL debut.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC, TVA2, CITY
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (19-13-8): Toronto's top four scorers all were in on the act Friday as Matthews (team-high 21 goals) recorded an assist to push his club-best point total to 36. James van Riemsdyk scored his 15th goal of the season and has 34 points, Mitch Marner (34 points) set up two scores to increase his assist total to a team-high 24 and William Nylander (27 points) netted his ninth tally. Connor Brown scored for the fourth time in five contests Friday, giving the rookie 10 goals, while Tyler Bozak extended his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists) with a pair of assists against New York.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (22-14-4): Mark Stone (13 goals) has scored in each of the last two games and also notched two assists against Edmonton. All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson (team bests of 27 assists and 34 points) didn't record a point in four straight contests before registering a pair of assists versus Pittsburgh. Turris leads Ottawa in goals with 14 while Mike Hoffman has scored in each of the last two games, giving him 12.
OVERTIME
1. Brown's plus-7 rating leads all Maple Leafs' forwards.
2. Condon, who has registered a .940 save percentage in four games this month, has appeared in every contest for Ottawa since Dec. 1.
3. Toronto, which is 9-6-6 on the road, is 2-6-1 in the second contest of back-to-back games this season.