LGD: Make it Matter

Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY SPORTS

The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Ottawa Senators tonight. We’re still at the stage of the season where a hiccup can be mended with the time remaining, but there’s not a ton of that time left and you better believe that making this a statement win would matter much, much more.

Toronto Maple Leafs lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

So Mitch Marner is out tonight, thanks to that injury he suffered after crashing into Boone Jenner and subsequentially crashing into the boards. He’ll also be out on Sunday, and the whole thing has everyone in a panic.

You know what? Good. Well, not good that he’s out. But if you can’t put up a good showing without your top players, you’re not a complete team. Good teams compete in the face of adversity. I’d rather have Marner in the lineup than not, but I’m curious to see how they do without him this weekend. He’ll be back soon enough, anyway.

Ottawa Senators lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

Have you ever noticed that the only time you hear anyone talk about Mark Stone is when Senators fans complain about Leafs fans talking about Auston Matthews?

Let it sink in.

Frederik Andersen returns to the pipes tonight, looking to build on his 33 save de-facto shutout (I’m not letting that penalty shot go) against the Islanders this week. He’s been hit and miss against the Senators this season; a performance like his 25 of 27 outing last month, if not better, would be ideal.

Craig Anderson likely starts for the Senators in his third game since coming back from personal leave to tend to his sick wife. His shutout against the Islanders last Saturday was an awesome feel-good story, but he wasn’t overly great against the Sabres four days ago. Goaltending has saved the Senators on many occasions this year; the Leafs need to make him feel uncomfortable tonight.

This might be the most important Leafs/Senators game since the Battle of Ontario era. Win it, and Toronto jumps back to being within a point of them with equal games played. Lose, at the Atlantic gets much more interesting. The Panthers are rising, the Bruins have been good of late, and if Claude Julien is as good as we believe him to be, it’s probably not that likely that the Habs can be caught up to.

There’s a lot of ways the Atlantic can still go. Toronto can win the whole thing, or they could end up missing the playoffs entirely in a 5th or 6th seed. I’m still leaning towards second or third, but boy, they have to show they want it tonight.

Puck drop is at 7:00 PM on Hockey Night in Canada. You’d be best suited to not miss it.