GAME DAY: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm ET - Sat. Apr. 20th, 2013

wprager wrote:Guess where I'll be Saturday night!

wprager wrote:Anderson to start, naturally. I posted yesterday (from someone's tweet) that if Anderson plays the remaining games he will have played the same percentage of the season as Tom Barrasso did in the 1983-84 season, when he won the Vezina. Barrasso started 42 of 80 games (only 80 games in those days), or 52.5%. If he plays in the next 5 games Anderson will have a total of 25 games out of 48, which is 52.1%. Close enough?

MAPLE LEAFS (24-15-5) at SENATORS (24-14-6)

TV: CBC, NHLN-US

Last 10: Toronto 6-3-1; Ottawa 5-5-0

Season series: This is the fifth and final edition of the Battle of Ontario for the 2012-13 season. The Toronto Maple Leafs have won three of the first four, including the past two. They beat the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place, 4-0, on March 30.

Big story: The Maple Leafs will know by puck drop if they will have a chance to clinch their first berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2004 on Saturday night. It hinges on what the Winnipeg Jets do against the New York Islanders. If the Jets lose in regulation to the New York Islanders (3 p.m. ET), the Leafs will be able to clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Senators.

Ottawa can't clinch with a win, but it can move closer to securing a spot in the playoffs. It's also possible the Senators get Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson back in the lineup soon. He had a full practice Friday.

Team Scope:

Maple Leafs: The Leafs have lost two in a row this week after a 9-1-4 stretch that dates back to March 16. They've been ugly losses, too.

The Washington Capitals beat Toronto, 5-1, on Tuesday. The New York Islanders topped the Leafs, 5-3, on Thursday.

"We're going to fix this," forward Joffrey Lupul said. "We're going to watch a lot of video [Friday] and we'll get back to basics and fix it."

Part of the Leafs' problem is Nazem Kadri, their second-leading scorer, has two assists in the past eight games. Mikhail Grabovski has three points in the past 12 games.

Senators: Earlier this month the skeptics were out, wondering if the Senators had run out of gas, if their remarkable run despite not having Jason Spezza (back) and Karlsson (Achilles) was coming to a premature end.

Not so fast.

Ottawa has won four in a row and has allowed only four goals in the process. The Senators even tamed the red-hot Capitals on Thursday with a 3-1 win.

Washington had won eight in a row coming into that game. Alex Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet.

And now comes the news that Karlsson's return could be on the horizon. He had a full practice on Friday and by the looks of it seemed like himself.

"He looks like Erik Karlsson," coach Paul MacLean said. "It's good for the team. His ability was evident."

Karlsson hasn't played since Feb. 13.

Who's hot: Despite the loss to the Islanders, Phil Kessel had assists on all three Toronto goals and has six goals and six assists over the past seven games. … Ottawa center Kyle Turris scored twice against the Capitals. Milan Michalek has points in all three games he's played since returning from injury.

Injury report: Toronto defenseman Carl Gunnarsson has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury. … Ottawa has been playing without both Spezza and Karlsson as well as Mike Hoffman (collarbone).

That was the message Leafs coach Randy Carlyle delivered to his team in the wake of some of their worst hockey this season; a nine-period slide which has seen them drop two of three in tilted fashion, winning once on very good fortune, outshot by a distressing and revealing 107-64 margin.

"When you can focus on only the negative and harp on it and criticize and beat guys down that just tightens up the mood more often than not," Fraser noted. "There's no reason why we should be happy with our performance the last few games, but there's zero reason why we should be attacking one another and critical. There's a point where you just have to take a step back, realize what you did poorly, but also on the flip side realize what we did so well to have that success [before]."

“We know how big this game is,” Kadri said. “We have to come out and take it to them.

“That doesn’t mean going out there looking to kill people and trying to cut off the heads of anyone you see. We just have to stick to our system.”

wprager wrote:What the hell kind of quote is this?

“We know how big this game is,” Kadri said. “We have to come out and take it to them.

“That doesn’t mean going out there looking to kill people and trying to cut off the heads of anyone you see. We just have to stick to our system.”

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Toronto/2013/04/19/20756611.html?cid=rsssportsslam!%20hockey