It was a beating so nice, let’s do it twice.

Last night the Senators received an education on what the John Tavares era is going to be like. You were excited, I was excited, the players were excited, the fans were excited, and the sponsors were excited too. I think this guy might have been the most excited…

Anyway, from one middle of nowhere game to the next, as the Leafs play in Kanata tonight. Like last night the place will be packed. And like last night it will probably only be Leafs fans in attendance, though we can’t count out that weird dude who drinks water from Captain Morgans bottles. FUN!

WOW! A Rich Clune sighting. I can’t be the only one who forgot he exists. Anyway, I’m extremely here for that Sandin/Liljegren pairing. Just hook that up to my veins and we’ll forget the rest.

This is also the first chance to see Ennis and Jooris as Leafs, and Lindholm is making his North American debut. I get that this game lacks the excitement of a Tavares rollout, but I think we might be underselling the Jooris hype.

The Senators don’t seem to have traded away their media in the Karlsson deal as well, and as a result I don’t have line combinations to work with, but here’s the roster for tonight:

DAMN RIGHT THAT’S A STU PERCY SIGHTING! Sens Hockey Fever! Catch it!

Tonight will also be Brady Tkachuk’s sad glance into a haunting future. Remember, he’s going to fix all of this, while having the fans of the Senators resent him for not being Jack Hughes. Good times.

 

McElhinney and Sparks went last night, so tonight is the night for the Andersen/Pickard tandem. Look at those names together. It just feels so right. Hopefully the Leafs will do the right thing and declare Pickard the backup after tonight’s game (I just cursed him, didn’t I?)

Assuming he doesn’t get his wish of a trade before puck drop tonight, we’re likely to see Craig Anderson in net for the Senators. He’s a good guy who has been through a lot and deserves better than this. I have no interest in saying anything bad about him here and hope he gets a chance to move on from this mess soon.

The game is on TSN 4 in Ontario, and the puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM ET.