PREVIEW – GAME 15 – SENS VISIT TORONTO

                                            

Ah, Patrick Lalime. Hey, remember the playoffs? Good times.

The Sens ownership doesn’t want Leafs fans going to games in Ottawa. Luckily for Sens fans, the Leafs’ owners enjoy selling tickets. Just gotta work on that whole "making the playoffs" thing. Technicalities…

Here’s what you need to know for tonight’s Sens vs. Leafs game.

It’s Saturday night, silly! CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada! Tune in at 7pm eastern. There will be a pre-game ceremony highlighing the 50th anniversary of the Leafs’ 1963 Stanley Cup-winning team.

Sportsnet 590 the Fan.

The days of Patrick Lalime are gone. Craig Anderson is one of the best goaltenders in the league right now. His 7-3-2 record ties him for the second-most wins in the league. His sparkling 1.58 goals against average and insane .949 save percentage are both the best stats among starting goaltenders. His goals against is technically worse than Luongo’s, but that’s another can of worms.

Starting in net for Toronto is Ben Scrivens, getting his second straight start. While his stats are not as good as the resurging James Reimer’s have been, they are respectable, with a 2.66 goals against average and .912 save percentage. Scrivens hasn’t even played in 20 career NHL games yet, so looking at stats too closely won’t reveal much. Perhaps one encouraging stat with Scrivens however, is that he has only allowed more than three goals in a game three times in 18 games. That isn’t fantastic, but he usuallly gives the team a chance to win.

Both teams are walking disasters. As if missing Jason Spezza wasn’t bad enough for Ottawa, now Erik Karlsson will likely be out for the rest of the season with a lacerated achilles. Any team in the league is going to suffer if they lose their number one guy down the middle and Norris Trophy-winning defenceman.

The Leafs are still without Lupul, Gunnarsson, Gardiner, Reimer, and Frattin. The good news is that Mike Brown is likely good to go.

Hey, "pretty sure" is good enough for me.

So uh…what does this mean?

Provided he wants him in? Presumably he means to make sure he doesn’t get injured, rather than he just isn’t good enough to crack the lineup, obviously. Alfredsson did not take part in Ottawa’s morning practice at the ACC.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s Eric Gryba, a Sens 3rd-round draft pick from 2006, will be making his NHL debut tonight. Get out your stopwatch to see how long it takes him to score against the Leafs.

Instead of Gryba, who did the Leafs pick in the third round in 2006? Nobody. They did, however, choose Nikolai Kulemin in round two, James Reimer and Korbinian Holzer in round four, and Leo Komarov in round six. Is that important to know. No. But now you know it.

Enjoy the game!