GDT: Senators vs Leafs - 7:00 -

Let the battle of Ontario begin !!!

SENATORS (0-1-0) at MAPLE LEAFS (1-0-0)

TV — CBC (HD)

Season series — It's the first installment of the Battle of Ontario. The Senators won the first two meetings last season, but the Leafs took the last four.

Big story — The Leafs started their season with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, giving them more points than they had after eight games last season, when an 0-7-1 start basically doomed their playoff hopes. They are trying to start the season with back-to-back victories for the first time since winning three in a row to start the 1999-2000 season.

Team Scope:

Senators — Opening with a 2-1 home loss to Buffalo was disappointing, but the Senators might have found a starting goaltender. Neither Pascal Leclaire nor Brian Elliott was sharp during the pre-season, but Leclaire was impressive with a 34-save performance against the Sabres and has earned another start tonight.

"I felt good," Leclaire said after Friday's game. "The first five minutes I had the nerves, but as things got going I felt comfortable. I got a lot of shots so it was easy to get into the game and it was a good start. But it will be better when we get our first win."

Maple Leafs — Despite his team's season-opening victory — or maybe because of it — Leafs coach Ron Wilson spent a lot of Friday trying to tamp down expectations in a city that hasn't seen a playoff game since the spring of 2004.

"It's one game, we're not going to get carried away," Wilson said. "We've got another rival (on Saturday) and that'll be another energetic affair.

"I'm sure they've already planned the Stanley Cup parade."

Who's hot — Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson has four goals in his last eight games against Toronto … Jean-Sebastien Giguere looked sharp in the opener for the Leafs and has a 5-2-1 record with a 1.96 goals-against average in the regular season against the Senators. Phil Kessel has goals in seven consecutive games against Ottawa.

Injury report — Jason Spezza sat out Friday night with a sore groin and will be a game-time decision tonight. Defenceman Filip Kuba will miss at least another three weeks with a broken leg. ...Toronto is without two defencemen as both Brett Lebda (shoulder) and Jeff Finger (undisclosed) are out,

Stat pack — Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliott went 0-3 with a 3.81 GAA against the Leafs last season … Kessel is 12-4-16 in his last 11 games against the Senators.

Puck drop — The Leafs would like nothing more than to start their season with back-to-back victories at home against a pair of Northeast Division rivals. In contrast, the Senators need a win to avoid starting with consecutive division losses. Expect a spirited effort from both sides.

Link to Game
http://atdhe.net/index.html

GO SENS GO

Great job on the GDT.

TYping on an iPod is not fun

wprager wrote:Great job on the GDT.

TYping on an iPod is not fun

I feel your pain, thats why my grammar is usually so bad on this site, my iphone just hates me.

Why can't you make the keyboard bigger? I can resize everything else, but when I try to zoom in the keyboard it thinks every touch is a keystroke.

P.S. How do I use the typing predictor/corrector?

wprager wrote:Why can't you make the keyboard bigger? I can resize everything else, but when I try to zoom in the keyboard it thinks every touch is a keystroke.

P.S. How do I use the typing predictor/corrector?

Im guessing you are using the IPhone, have you tried turning it side ways.... that gives you a landscape keyboard which makes it a lot easier to type, as for the auto correction it should be already on.

Clouston pre-game:
http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/101009_Clouston.MP3

Spezza pre-game:
http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Audio/101009_Spezza.mp3

As mentioned before, Spezza is game time and Leclaire is the starter. My gut feeling says spezza will play....

Game Notes:
http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Game%20Notes%20Oct%209.pdf

GO LECLAIRE GO!!!

I'm as happy about Leclaire's performance as most Sens fans are but didn't that game winning goal kinda suck some of the life out of what was a stellar performance by Leclaire?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm as happy about Leclaire's performance as most Sens fans are but didn't that game winning goal kinda suck some of the life out of what was a stellar performance by Leclaire?

Not really his fault. He did his job cutting down the angle of the shot and forcing the player to take the puck behind the net. He never really got any help in the form of a defender following the man in behind the net and pinning him against the boards. Would have probably resulted in a dead play. Instead, he got no help, Roy had the sense to try the ultra low percentage bank-it-in-off-the-goalie play and it paid off.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm as happy about Leclaire's performance as most Sens fans are but didn't that game winning goal kinda suck some of the life out of what was a stellar performance by Leclaire?

I agree, I think that was one of those deflating goals that good goalies step up and make a save on.

Tough to rag on Leclaire after that game as a whole though, there will be more than enough time to rag on him later on without nitpicking one goal in a solid performance.

sens4win wrote:

wprager wrote:Why can't you make the keyboard bigger? I can resize everything else, but when I try to zoom in the keyboard it thinks every touch is a keystroke.

P.S. How do I use the typing predictor/corrector?

Im guessing you are using the IPhone, have you tried turning it side ways.... that gives you a landscape keyboard which makes it a lot easier to type, as for the auto correction it should be already on.

I was using my kid's iPod. I was at the SensPlex -- free public wifi. And, yes, I was holding it sideways. The auto-correction (and word completion) was on, for sure -- it kept popping up the corrected/completed word, but I had no idea how to select it. There was an x in the top right corner of the pop up, so I figure that was to dismiss it. I tried tapping it smack dab in the middle and it didn't seem to do anything.

Ah, well, I just brought it to listen to some Colin James while waiting for practice to be over. Little Big Band!

stempniaksen wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm as happy about Leclaire's performance as most Sens fans are but didn't that game winning goal kinda suck some of the life out of what was a stellar performance by Leclaire?

I agree, I think that was one of those deflating goals that good goalies step up and make a save on.

Tough to rag on Leclaire after that game as a whole though, there will be more than enough time to rag on him later on without nitpicking one goal in a solid performance.

It wasn't the kind of shot you have to make a save on, though. It was not a shot on goal. If he had simply hugged the post it doesn't go in. Also if Phillips puts even a tiny bit of mustard on his clearing "attempt" it's down the ice. Maybe he was guilty of doing too much? Actually I'm not sure what he was trying to do -- was he going after Roy to pin him on the boards?

wprager wrote:

stempniaksen wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm as happy about Leclaire's performance as most Sens fans are but didn't that game winning goal kinda suck some of the life out of what was a stellar performance by Leclaire?

I agree, I think that was one of those deflating goals that good goalies step up and make a save on.

Tough to rag on Leclaire after that game as a whole though, there will be more than enough time to rag on him later on without nitpicking one goal in a solid performance.

It wasn't the kind of shot you have to make a save on, though. It was not a shot on goal. If he had simply hugged the post it doesn't go in. Also if Phillips puts even a tiny bit of mustard on his clearing "attempt" it's down the ice. Maybe he was guilty of doing too much? Actually I'm not sure what he was trying to do -- was he going after Roy to pin him on the boards?

I'm think I'm trying to defend Leclaire because I feel bad for ragging on him so much. That was a bad one for sure that should never have gone in.

Minutes away, let's get excited! Haha.

Spezza is playing.

I think it'll make a huge difference, excited to see how this affects guys like Michalek and Fisher.