GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs - 7:00pm Jan. 3rd, 2009

The Battle of Ontario has turned into the Battle of the Basement as these two struggling teams meet. Their struggles take on very different perspectives - the Sens' struggles are well below expectations, the Leafs' struggles are fully expected as they are in a rebuild mode. Equally surprising is that the Sens are at the bottom of the division, behind the rebuilding Leafs.

According to goaliepost.com, Gerber and Toskala are firm for starting tonight.

http://goaliepost.com/

BLACK AND BLUE REPORT

SENATORS: C Cody Bass (shoulder), out for season; D Filip Kuba (lower body), will not play.

MAPLE LEAFS: D Luke Schenn (knee), will not play; C Matt Stajan (eye), will not play; D Mike Van Ryn (concussion), will not play; RW Jeremy Williams (shoulder), questionable.

Game is on CBC - HNIC - in HD.

Let's put a target on Carolina. Sure, Toronto i shte immediate target, and we still have to get more points than Toronto, Florida, Buffalo and, at this point, Pittsburgh, to get to the playoffs. But for the moment, let's just look at Carolina.

We have 4 games in hand and, coincidentally, we are four games under .500. If we win those 4 games (the next four are Leafs, Devils, Sabres, Bruins) and get back to mediocrity, we'd still be 2 wins and 3 points behind Carolina.

In those same four games Carolina plays the Devils and the Bruins, like we do, but the other two games are against Florida and Tampa -- slightly easier schedule than ours, I'd say.

OK, that was a bit depressing. Let's take that target off Carolina and put it where it belongs -- on the Leafs. A win (in regulation) tonight and we're 3 points back with 3 games in hand. I like those numbers a lot better. I'll think about Carolina again next week.

P.S. What's going on with Pittsburgh? They've slipped to 8th and are just 1 point ahead of Buffalo.

Here's an idea... we don't win any more games, solidifying at least one top 5 pick, maybe as far as #1 overall.

Pessimistic? No,, more like optimistic, because its hard to argue that having a guy like Tavares in the future is not optimism.

A win over the Leafs, or Florida, NYI, Tampa; or any team for that matter, is detrimental to the teams improvement in the long run. Sure, the team could try all they might to win the remaining games, make the playoffs, and then as usual, get eliminated and pick in the mid to late rounds. Face it, this isn't a Stanley Cup contending team. Why be like the Leafs and finish high enough not to make playoffs but not low enough to improve.

The ideal scenario is losing every game by one goal while having our key guys score a few goals.

It's quite obvious changes are needed, maybe even drastic ones. Our defence is slow and seem to miss the fundamental of the word defence. Our offence is anemic, the players are unmotivated.

I hear the cries for a Spezza trade, and really, it only makes sense if you've got a superstar in the making like Tavares to fill in. Once you know you have that, then you can look at trading Spezza for whatever you need to fill in the holes.

shabbs wrote:The Battle of Ontario has turned into the Battle of the Basement as these two struggling teams meet. Their struggles take on very different perspectives - the Sens' struggles are well below expectations, the Leafs' struggles are fully expected as they are in a rebuild mode. Equally surprising is that the Sens are at the bottom of the division, behind the rebuilding Leafs.

According to goaliepost.com, Gerber and Toskala are firm for starting tonight.

http://goaliepost.com/

BLACK AND BLUE REPORT

SENATORS: C Cody Bass (shoulder), out for season; D Filip Kuba (lower body), will not play.

MAPLE LEAFS: D Luke Schenn (knee), will not play; C Matt Stajan (eye), will not play; D Mike Van Ryn (concussion), will not play; RW Jeremy Williams (shoulder), questionable.

Game is on CBC - HNIC - in HD.

I got to meet a bunch of the guys the other day at the Sens Plex and spoke for awhile with Kuba. Very nice guy, but he told me he is close to returning and did skate, but they don't want to rush it, cause it's a groin.

My buddy works at the rink and has got me into three practices over the past few months. I have to act like a worker there, but it's real cool.

Going to hook up a second tv to watch the Canada game as well, I pray they win, as I just picked up my Gold Medal tickets!!!

TSN's Ice Chips for today...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11009

Winger Nick Foligno wasn't at the morning skate today. He was catching a flight back from Sudbury and will be in lineup tonight. - TSN

Projected Lines vs. Maple Leafs

Forwards:
Heatley - Spezza - Alfredsson
Foligno - Fisher - Neil
Vermette - Kelly - Ruutu -
Donovan - McAmmond - Winchester

Defence:
Phillips - Schubert
Bell - Picard
Smith - Lee

Goaltenders:
Gerber

They had the Canucks in there... I'm assuming it was a typo.

And for the Leafs:

Kris Newbury, who played last night for the Marlies, has been called up for tonight's game. It was his first game back from shoulder injury and he hopes to bring intensity and toughness. - TSN

Projected Lines

Forwards:
Ponikarovsky - Mitchell - Antropov
Blake - Moore - Stempniak
Kulemin - Grabovski - Hagman
Newbury - Mayers - Hollweg

Defence:
Sifers - Finger
White - Frogren
Kaberle - Kubina

Goaltender:
Toskala
Joseph

Hmmm... the Ottawa Sun reported the Sens lineup being "bolstered" by the return of Anton Volchenkov. Looks like it's not to be after all...

Ah never mind... Bell is a healthy scratch apparently, and Volchie is back in.

Interesting that Bell is a healthy scratch whilst Lee plays.

EDIT: Although, I suppose Lee being on a goal-scoring streak might influence that.

We never lose when Lee scores. He's the new Phillips.

DashRiprock wrote:Here's an idea... we don't win any more games, solidifying at least one top 5 pick, maybe as far as #1 overall.

Doesn't have to be 1st over-all. There are so many awesome players at the top end of this draft.

A Jordan Schroeder or MSP would have me dancing for joy if we got, say, 5th over-all.

Well, I still stand firm Tavares is the single best player in the draft, possibly the best since Crosby.

I'll settle for Tavares and another 2-3 in the first round, a couple wingers, or one and a d-man or goalie.

DashRiprock wrote:Well, I still stand firm Tavares is the single best player in the draft, possibly the best since Crosby.

I'll settle for Tavares and another 2-3 in the first round, a couple wingers, or one and a d-man or goalie.

I still believe Hedman will be the best of the bunch, and I also like MSP's over-all game more than Tavares'. Tavares will be a great producer, but I just don't know if he can dominate a game like an Ovechkin or Crosby. He seems more like a Dany Heatley to me.

I also would not take JT over Kane or Johnson. I might take him over Stamkos though, although people have been quick to write Stevie S off as being over-rated.

Fisher's had a strong game thus far.

Spezza's play on the goal was beautiful, and I think I even saw him hit someone, but he's really frustrating me with the lack of back-checking. For this reason alone I'd love a guy like Quinn to kick his @$$.

did anyone watch this game (Sens/Leafs) - thank god the juniors are in town - Canada needs to borrow Janus for the final.

I hope the sens core is feeling shame right now.

I switched between the two games but found myself far more interested in the juniors. Now that is real competitive hockey. I only watched the Sens game during the juniors commercials and in between periods.

Hey gang, how was BP? I'm disappointed I couldn't make it, I planned poorly and wasn't able to make it after work. I did catch some of both games though.

From the Ottawa Sun:

"It's a very tough loss for us. We started the game really well and Toskala played really well. We had a lot of chances," said Alfredsson.
"(Toskala) keeps them in the game and they get a couple of chances and score. It just seems like every time we make a mistake it ends up in our net."

Freudian slip? Alfie probably isn't trying to call out his goalie, but this message could be interpreted as saying "It's tough losing to good goalies. They keep their team in the game while ours doesn't". This quote, however, has come up multiple times this year including games Auld has played in.

Before anyone grills me on this I really think the Blake goal was the only sloppy one of Gerber's part. It just sucks that we didn't get to score a sloppy one on Toskala.