Last night, we learned something that Leaf fans have known for years. You just can’t count on the Toronto Maple Leafs for anything.
As a trial run for the post-season, the Leafs frittered away a late lead and in turn, capped off another unpleasant night on the out-of-town-scoreboard. Unfortunate for sure but the reality of the situation is, the Ottawa Senators very much need to take care of their own business. As in like, winning every damn game.
That continues tonight on home ice against the Philadelphia Flyers.
A few changes of note to the lineup for this one. First of all, Tyler Kleven makes his NHL debut. He’ll start on a third pair with Nick Holden and will likely introduce himself to some poor unsuspecting Flyer before the night is out. Thomas Chabot joins Jakob Chychrun on the sidelines which means that both Jake Sanderson and Erik Brannstrom will be expected to take on increased responsibility.
The other change comes between the pipes as Cam Talbot plays his first game since March 4th. No time to shake off the rust or sharpen his pencils or any of that nonsense really.
Here’s how the good guys will line up for this evening’s festivities.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson
Brassard-Gambrell-Joseph
Brown-Kastelic-Watson
Sanderson-Zub
Brannstrom-Hamonic
Kleven-Holden
As previously indicated, Cam Talbot gets the start.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 PM at in The Tire. The game is available on TSN5, RDS, TSN1200 and in and around the world wide web but in this award-winning anonymous blogger’s humble opinion, you should probably just head down to the rink and watch this one in person.
But before you go, please make some time for today’s HEAD2HEAD table, which includes a breathtaking array of columns and rows and stats that you truly have to see to believe.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 29-32-12 (70 pts) | 36-33-5 (77 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.68 (30th) | 3.16 (18th) |
| Goals Against | 3.25 (19th) | 3.23 (18th) |
| Power Play | 15.4% (32nd) | 24.6% (6th) |
| Penalty Kill | 74.9% (25th) | 82.3% (8th) |
| Shots For | 29.2 (26th) | 33.1 (8th) |
| Shots Against | 31.4 (19th) | 31.9 (23rd) |
| Leading Scorers | Konecny- 54 pts Hayes- 52 pts Laughton- 41 pts Tippett- 41 pts DeAngelo- 39 pts |
Stützle- 82 pts Tkachuk- 77 pts Giroux- 71 pts DeBrincat- 60 pts Batherson- 58 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Carter Hart 21-21-10 2.90 GAA, .905 sv% |
Cam Talbot 15-14-1 2.85 GAA, .905 sv% |
