As the Toronto Maple Leafs start to wrap up the 2021 NHL season, in which they’ve been crowned the champions of the North division, they’ll head to Ottawa to face the second last team in that same North division.

Of course, Ottawa will only hold on to being just second last if the Vancouver Canucks can’t finish out the year, or fail to post a record with a 50% points percentage or more in their remaining games. However, as it stands currently, the wordplay-ish title is technically correct — the best kind of correct.

Toronto holds a 5-3 record against the Senators this year, which is the worst head-to-head record that they have against any opponent this season. It’s not really all that surprising to learn that the Leafs struggle with the Senators the most, as anyone who’s watched hockey for a long time can tell you that in rivalry matchups, skill seems to become less of a factor than the emotional willpower of the team.

Tonight, Toronto aims to double up on the Senators in this last contest between the two teams this season.

Tale of the Tape

The Tale of the Tape for this contest comes from our own Mark Norman. Check out his Tableau page for more Leafs-related visualizations!

Leafs Lines

With Nick Foligno, Zach Hyman, and Riley Nash injured, it’s expected that the Leafs will use the same lineup they had in the previous game against Montreal, despite the fact that Hyman and Nash were out at practice today. Both are confirmed to not be available vs. Ottawa.

LW	C	RW	Forwards
JOE THORNTON Rating: 72.3#74 LW	AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 82.3#6 C	MITCH MARNER Rating: 76.6#18 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 77.06#8 FL1
ALEX GALCHENYUK Rating: 70.8#115 LW	JOHN TAVARES Rating: 77.6#15 C	WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 76.1#23 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 74.83#7 FL2
PIERRE ENGVALL Rating: 71.0#98 LW	ALEXANDER KERFOOT Rating: 70.8#113 C	ILYA MIKHEYEV Rating: 74.0#42 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 71.95#18 FL3
JASON SPEZZA Rating: 69.4#126 LW	ADAM BROOKS	WAYNE SIMMONDS Rating: 70.2#112 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 69.83#25 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 75.3#14 LD	T.J. BRODIE Rating: 74.2#27 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 74.76#13 DL1
JAKE MUZZIN Rating: 75.1#17 LD	JUSTIN HOLL Rating: 72.0#61 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 73.56#9 DL2
BEN HUTTON Rating: 73.5#44 LD	TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 71.7#83 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.58#10 DL3

Senators Lines

I’m not totally convinced that this isn’t a prank by DailyFaceoff. I’ve come to accept that Artem Zub really exists, but Olle Alsing is really pushing it.

LW	C	RW	Forwards
BRADY TKACHUK Rating: 75.0#27 LW	JOSH NORRIS	DRAKE BATHERSON	FL1 Rating Rating: 73.71#22 FL1
NICK PAUL Rating: 71.2#105 LW	COLIN WHITE Rating: 70.3#129 C	EVGENII DADONOV Rating: 73.1#53 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 71.53#25 FL2
TIM STÜTZLE	SHANE PINTO	CONNOR BROWN Rating: 72.6#66 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 72.58#7 FL3
RYAN DZINGEL Rating: 70.2#117 LW	CHRIS TIERNEY Rating: 72.2#77 C	VITALY ABRAMOV	FL4 Rating Rating: 71.18#13 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
VICTOR METE Rating: 72.2#70 LD	NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 70.5#97 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 71.38#28 DL1
ERIK BRANNSTROM	ARTEM ZUB	DL2 Rating Rating: 71.03#25 DL2
OLLE ALSING	JACOB BERNARD-DOCKER	DL3 Rating Rating: 0.00#30 DL3

Starting Goalies

The only expected change for Toronto is that Frederik Andersen makes his return to the goaltender’s crease after a lengthy injury kept him out of the lineup.

Also, it’s expected that the Sens will continue to start Anton Forsberg with star goalie Matt Murray (lol) and backup Joey Daccord both out injured.