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Oh look, there’s a Leafs game tonight
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Photo credit: Nick Barden
Jon Steitzer
Mar 25, 2021, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 25, 2021, 14:44 EDT
After having only two games in the past 10 days, the Leafs are finally back at tonight in Ottawa.
The Leafs went into this most recent break a lot more favourably than the last one. Jack Campbell’s shutout has certainly given us a lot of hope that the recent skid is over, and now that they are facing the bottom of the division in the Senators, there’s no reason to believe that the good times won’t continue (except the Sens, along with the Jets have been the most difficult opponent for the Leafs this year.)
So here’s the deal. The Sens are going to bring their best game, and it turns out that Filip Gustavsson knows what he’s doing in net. As bizarre as it is that a goaltender named Gustavsson knows what he’s doing, the Leafs need to be prepared for an attempt at goalie-ing. On the upside of that equation is the Leafs will either be getting Gustavsson who just played last night, something that rarely goes well for goaltenders, or Anton Forsberg. Yes that Anton Forsberg who has lived on waivers for the entirety of the season. He’s had one successful game for the Sens AHL team this season, but other than that has just seen a bit of practice here and there on a handful of teams. If he starts, he’ll definitely be playing like a guy who has something to prove.
As for the Leafs, tonight’s game is probably about getting what they can out of their top two centers. Matthews has been in a wrist injury related goal slump, and John Tavares is still looking to reestablish himself as an offensive threat, although 9 goals, 27 points in 32 games isn’t the horrible catastrophe it’s being painted as.

Lineups

LWCRW
Wayne Simmonds

WAYNE SIMMONDS
Rating: 70.2#112 LW
Auston Matthews

AUSTON MATTHEWS
Rating: 82.3#6 C
Mitch Marner

MITCH MARNER
Rating: 76.6#18 RW
Alex Galchenyuk

ALEX GALCHENYUK
Rating: 70.8#115 LW
John Tavares

JOHN TAVARES
Rating: 77.6#15 C
William Nylander

WILLIAM NYLANDER
Rating: 76.1#23 RW
Joe Thornton

JOE THORNTON
Rating: 72.3#74 LW
Alexander Kerfoot

ALEXANDER KERFOOT
Rating: 70.8#113 C
Jason Spezza

JASON SPEZZA
Rating: 69.4#126 RW
Ilya Mikheyev

ILYA MIKHEYEV
Rating: 74.0#42 LW
Pierre Engvall

PIERRE ENGVALL
Rating: 71.0#98 C
Zach Hyman

ZACH HYMAN
Rating: 74.6#33 RW
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Morgan Rielly

MORGAN RIELLY
Rating: 75.3#14 LD
T.J. Brodie

T.J. BRODIE
Rating: 74.2#27 RD
Jake Muzzin

JAKE MUZZIN
Rating: 75.1#17 LD
Justin Holl

JUSTIN HOLL
Rating: 72.0#61 RD
Travis Dermott

TRAVIS DERMOTT
Rating: 71.7#83 LD
Zach Bogosian

ZACH BOGOSIAN
Rating: 71.4#76 RD
LWCRW
Brady Tkachuk

BRADY TKACHUK
Rating: 75.0#27 LW
Evgenii Dadonov

EVGENII DADONOV
Rating: 73.1#53 RW
Chris Tierney

CHRIS TIERNEY
Rating: 72.2#77 C
Ryan Dzingel

RYAN DZINGEL
Rating: 70.2#117 LW
Colin White

COLIN WHITE
Rating: 70.3#129 C
Nick Paul

NICK PAUL
Rating: 71.2#105 RW
Connor Brown

CONNOR BROWN
Rating: 72.6#66 RW
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Thomas Chabot

THOMAS CHABOT
Rating: 74.5#23 LD
Nikita Zaitsev

NIKITA ZAITSEV
Rating: 70.5#97 RD
Mike Reilly

MIKE REILLY
Rating: 72.4#64 LD
Christian Wolanin

CHRISTIAN WOLANIN
Rating: 71.8#67 LD

Starting Goaltenders

The Leafs have confirmed Jack Campbell will get the go again, and frankly why wouldn’t he after his shutout last game, the injury to Andersen, and the next best option being Michael Hutchinson. The Senators are a bit more of a mystery with nothing official announced yet, but as I mentioned above, Gustavsson played last game, and the Sens could go to Anton Forsberg for his first NHL start of the season.
Start time for tonight’s game will be at 7PM ET, and it can be found on TSN 4.