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Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. EST  |  Arena: Air Canada Centre |  TV: SN Ontario |  Radio: TSN 1050


Game Day Quotes

Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher on the Senators’ rollercoaster season to date:

To me, there are three seasons. There is the first part that ends with Colorado, coming back from Sweden. We’re 8-3-5 and looking great.

Then we got injuries, a big trade, and trying to re-arrange guys. And we went one month on the road, basically, and that’s what killed us. We were 1-10. We didn’t survive that one month on the road and the circumstances that we had through that month.

Since we’ve been back, we’ve been playing .500. We played some really good games against high-end teams — twice against Tampa, San Jose, against Columbus at home, the Rangers. We played some really good games. But the games that got away from us against Boston — which they’re doing right now to everybody; I think we’re in the same boat as everybody playing them right now —  but those three games, including yesterday [versus Chicago] get away from us because in the second period we gave away too much and mentally we weren’t strong enough to battle back like we did in some other games.

Mike Babcock on the Senators:

Well, they do a real nice job in the neutral zone, obviously. They’ve got real good players, so we’re going to have to play well. It’s their last game before the break, and our last game before the break. It’s important you go [into the break] feeling good about ourselves, so we need to play well.

Babcock on Travis Dermott (sitting tonight) and his play so far:

Well, I like a lot of things about him. Number one, he was drafted a Leaf. I think your own drafts end up with a tattoo on the good organizations of that organization with them. Second thing I’d say to you: He skates really good, he trains like Brown and Hyman, and he’s in the gym all summer, so that’s means he’s going to get better because he’s committed. He’s got good hockey sense and now he’s just got to be ready for the league.

Babcock on the upcoming six-day break:

Enjoy your time, understand what’s going on when you get back. All we have to do is win today. That’s the way I worry about it. I’m not going to spend any time worrying about things I can’t control.

You always think you need a mental break. I don’t know how many mental breaks you need in a year, but to each their own. I don’t know what the right answer is, to tell you the truth. We’re talking about things we don’t control. It makes no difference.

Our sports science guys will send out a thing, I’m sure, like they always do. Whether it be for jet lag, whether it be for sleeping… whatever it is, they’ll send it out and you expect your guys to adhere to it the best they possibly can. But you expect your guys to go have fun. That’s what I’d be doing. Actually, that’s what I’m going to do. And come back ready to go.

Nazem Kadri on the Senators’ neutral zone play:

Just structure wise, the way they play, the way they try to congest the neutral zone and make teams turnover pucks — I think that’s really one of their strengths. They try to frustrate teams, so I think tonight’s going to be about staying patient and just waiting for your opportunities.

Boucher on the adjustment for Matt Duchene since the trade to Ottawa:

I’ve always found that trades for third and fourth liners are much easier because they don’t have the same pressure. They come in and they fill holes. When you look at high-end guys, it’s always tougher. When you look at guys who are traded at the trade deadline — the high-end guys — it takes a while.

First of all, they get the pressure to perform right away and everyone is expecting them to be great. And they usually take somebody’s spot, so you’ve got to shuffle things around. By the time you figure out where things are and where they feel comfortable… It takes a good month or month and a half for your own team to figure it out in training camp. A new guy comes in and he’s got to go through that month.

To be honest with you, he started amazing. His first three or four games were unbelievable and it didn’t go in for him or for the guys he was playing with, and then it became a mental thing while shuffling at the same time with the injuries. We had to try too many things at the same time while we were on the road for a month. That made it really hard for him.

I think now his mind is in the right place and he’s been playing great and producing and performing. We’ve found a line that clicks.


Matchup Stats

TOROTT
Record25-16-314-18-9
GF/g3.16 (8th)2.73 (22nd)
GA/g2.86 (17th)3.44 (28th)
PP%21.6% (6th)
15.4% (28th)
PK%83.7% (6th)74.2% (29th)
Shots/g30.9 (22nd)30.6 (23rd)
Shots Against/g33.9 (29th)32.0 (15th)
5v5 CF%49.3% (18th)48.6% (22nd)
5v5 SV%.925 (14th).907 (30th)
5v5 SH%9.1% (T-1st)7.9% (14th)

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup

*We have added goal, assist, and point totals for each player below the lines. Total goals per line are indicated, too, as well as save percentage for goalies.

Forwards

Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
  (44-7-15-22) – (34-19-14-33) – (43-9-22-31) Total: 35
Marleau – Kadri – Komarov
(44-15-9-24) – (42-14-10-24) – (43-4-6-10)  Total: 33
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Marner
  (43-18-10-28) – (42-8-14-22) – (44-5-25-30) Total: 31
Martin – Gauthier – Brown
 (42-3-7-9) – (4-0-0-0) – (44-10-6-16)  Total: 13

Defencemen

Rielly – Hainsey
 (44-4-26-30) – (44-3-13-16) Total: 7
Gardiner – Carrick
 (44-3-17-20) – (25-2-3-5) Total: 5
Borgman – Polak
(41-2-7-9) – (25-2-4-6) Total: 4

Goaltenders

Andersen (.922 sv%)
McElhinney (.916 sv%)

Scratched: Moore, Dermott
Injured: 
Soshnikov, Zaitsev


Ottawa Senators Projected Lineup

Forwards

Dzingel – Brassard – Stone
  (41-13-4-17) – (41-12-16-28) – (41-18-24-42) Total: 43
Hoffman – Duchene – White
(41-10-18-28) – (27-6-4-10) – (2-0-0-0) Total: 16
Smith – Pageau – Pyatt
  (27-3-6-9) – (41-6-9-15) – (41-4-10-14) Total: 13
Dumont – Chlapik – Burrows
 (15-0-1-1) – (6-0-1-1) – (40-3-3-6) Total: 3

Defencemen

Chabot – Karlsson
 (22-2-6-8) – (36-3-27-30) Total: 5
Phaneuf – Ceci
 (39-3-10-13) – (41-5-4-9) Total: 8
Harpur – Claesson
 (19-0-1-1) – (33-1-1-2) Total: 1

Goaltenders

Anderson (.897 sv%)
Condon (.894 sv%)

Injured: Thomson, Wideman, Ryan