GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs - 7:00pm - Sat. Oct. 5th, 2013

The Sens opened the 2013-14 season with a sloppy but exciting 1-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres. The game was mostly an audition for Team USA's goaltending position as Miller and Anderson dazzled with save after save. Throughout the game, although the Sens enjoyed a fairly wide territorial and shot-clock advantage, it was Anderson making the tougher saves. In the end, it was Anderson who prevailed on a ;ate goal from Karlsson, off a perfect pass from newcomer Clarke MacArthur. Player #16 should be fairly motivated tonight, as he faces his old club.

The Leafs are coming back to Toronto for their home opener with a 2-0 record, after winning a highly entertaining game against the Canadiens on opening night, and then following up the next night with a win in Philadelphia. The Leafs didn't look all that great in either game, as it took an ugly injury to Parros to knock the wind out of the Habs' sails (Montreal had been dominating up to that point) and the Flyers are, well, the Flyers. Still, this is a team that beat the Sens 4 of 5 games last season, including 2 shutouts, and you know they will be pumped up for their home opener.

Although the Sens are playing the second of back-to-back nights (they should be used to that against the Leafs after last season), it's expected that Craig "Vezina-if-Healthy" Anderson will get the start. As for the Leafs, both goalies played very well in their two wins, so a goalie controversy may be brewing.

Go Sens Go!

• TV Coverage: CBC
  
• TSN Ice Chips: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/icechips/
  
• TSN Preview: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/scores/gameday/?hubname=nhl-maple_leafs
  
• ESPN Preview: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/preview?gameId=400484265
  
• NHL Game Preview: http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/preview?id=2013020022
  
• NHL Gamecenter Live link: http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/gamecenterlive?id=2013020022
  

Inside the Senate
Game One: Senators vs. Sabres
Craig Anderson ahead of game one
Coach MacLean on getaway day
Sens TV talks rule changes

Reimer gets the nod in goal. Figures. He was pretty good against the Sens last year. But not so much this year (to be fair, he was playing behind the Marlies when he faced the Sens).

Injury updates:

Mark Fraser was placed on LTIR after twisting his knee against Philadelphia. He'll be out 3-4 weeks. Morgan Rielly is expected to get his first NHL start in his place.

Kulemin is not at the morning skate; not sure if that means anything.

Clarkson is still suspended.

Oh, my, TSN, tsk-tsk-tsk:

Kulemin has a chip in his ankle from blocking a shot, out 2 weeks.

Reimer is 8-1-1 lifetime against the Sens.  If the Sens lose I'm declaring a state of emergency (9-1-1).

< taps mic >Hello?  Hello-oooo-ooo-ooo!

Projected lineups (Kassian/Corvo in, Da Costa/Gryba out):

Toronto Maple Leafs

Forwards
van Riemsdyk - Bozak - Kessel
Lupul - Bolland -Abbott
Raymond - Kadri - Bodie
Ashton - McClement - Orr

Defence
Phaneuf - Gunnarsson
Rielly - Franson
Gardiner - Rangers

Goaltenders
Reimer
Bernier

Ottawa Senators

Forwards
Michalek - Spezza - Ryan
MacArthur - Turris - Conacher
Greening - Pageau - Condra
Kassian - Smith - Neil

Defence
Karlsson - Methot
Cowen - Wiercioch
Phillips - Corvo

Goaltenders
Anderson
Lehner

Big game early in the season, Leafs are off to a great start, Ottawa had trouble scoring last night and won't get any easier tonight. Top line needs to play like a top line.

wprager wrote:Reimer is 8-1-1 lifetime against the Sens.  If the Sens lose I'm declaring a state of emergency (9-1-1).

More shots in close.. not from the outside as like last night. Don't take 7 penalties.. that means stay out of the box Kassian. Don't give the puck up too much. The Leafs don't have trouble scoring like the Sens do. Andy will have to be at his absolute best...

If the goalie is down.. shoot high. Too many along the ice shots last night or too many at the chest..

Make it hard on Reimer... Hopefully the checking line of the Leafs try to control the Sens top line.. leaving the Turris & Pageau lines to do the damage. That is what has to happen for the Sens to get a win. It won't be easy... don't fool yourselves.

Another good game tonight.. will be in Boston... with Detroit in town.. Too bad they are on at the same time. Lots of channel flipping tonight.. I hate the Leafs.. Go Sens.. Leaves fall in October.

NEELY wrote:Big game early in the season, Leafs are off to a great start, Ottawa had trouble scoring last night and won't get any easier tonight.  Top line needs to play like a top line.

Having trouble scoring against Miller isn't exactly unheard of. If Spezza/Ryan get 12 shots on Reimer you don't think at least 1 of those is a goal? And while 2-0 is certainly better than Buffalo's 0-2, the Leafs were not overly impressive (except for their goaltending).

Leafs are still missing Clarkson, and now they've lost Fraser and Kulemin. Rielly may develop into a very good defenseman, eventually, but right now he's a 19-year-old kid.

SOG is not indicative of how that top line played last night.  SOG could be 100 total and scoring chances are 0, what did it matter?  Best chances came from lines 2 and 3 while line 1 and 4 were on par with each other. A big problem there is Michalek is adding absolutely nothing to that line, no speed, no shot, no grind... just taking up space. He's literally on his last legs here in Ottawa and maybe the NHL.

NEELY wrote:SOG is not indicative of how that top line played last night.  SOG could be 100 total and scoring chances are 0, what did it matter?  Best chances came from lines 2 and 3 while line 1 and 4 were on par with each other.  A big problem there is Michalek is adding absolutely nothing to that line, no speed, no shot, no grind... just taking up space.  He's literally on his last legs here in Ottawa and maybe the NHL.

I don't disagree 100% but I don't agree 100%, either. While I wouldn't say the top line was dominant, they did control play. Problem was that Michalek seemed out of synch with Spezza/Ryan, and wasn't opening up any space for them. Maybe put out Greening there for a few shifts in the 2nd, if they continue to struggle.

Also, going from 12 SOG to zero does show a drop off.

Either way that top line wasn't great last night. Don't blame it on Ryan or Spezza really, they had the puck enough to display some sort of offense... Michalek though is going to have a rough year and I have thought that for some time. His best days are done and I wouldn't be surprised to see Stone up in Ottawa in sort order to play on the top line or move MacArthur up there. They will need some help.

Ryan apparently not the only one to have some issues with Carlyle, he was just a lot more diplomatic about it:

“I didn’t have a relationship with him, and not many guys do,” MacArthur said, of Carlyle. “Some guys are good with the criticism, but they don’t want to hear it every single shift they come off the ice,” MacArthur says. “You’re old enough to know ‘I made a mistake,’ you don’t need to hear it every five seconds.”

Still, nothing like Grabovski:

Карлайл, этот сукин сын он может пойти поцеловать меня в задницу!

http://www.senatorsextra.com/main/macarthur-rips-former-coach-carlyle