Game 41 preview: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs will play for second place in the Atlantic Division (in terms of points/game) when they meet tonight in Ottawa. A 7-1-1 run has seen the Leafs surge into playoff contention while Ottawa has halted their slide with a pair of wins against Edmonton and Pittsburgh.

There will be no changes to the lineup for Ottawa meaning Mike Condon will get the start again. He has started every game since 18 December. The Leafs are on a back-to-back having won 4-2 against the Rangers in New York last night.

Here are the lines and pairings for Ottawa:

Smith - Brassard - Stone
Dzingel - Turris - Ryan
Hoffman - Pageau - Pyatt
Kelly - Lazar - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki - Wideman

Condon (starter)
O'Connor

Some notes for tonight:

• The win against Pittsburgh was the first time Ottawa has won this season by more than two goals without empty net goals.
• Erik Karlsson is facing a serious threat for being the team's top scorer. His 34 points are just two ahead of Mark Stone.
• The Senators are now ninth in the NHL in goals allowed per game.
• Mike Condon is tied for eighth in the NHL with a 92.2 save percentage among goalies with 20+ appearances.
• Since four goals in his NHL debut against Ottawa, Auston Matthews has scored another 17 goals in the next 39 games.
• The Leafs have six players on pace for 50 or more points this season.
• With both teams so close to Boston with a bucket full of games in hand, there is a growing possibility of a playoff matchup between the two clubs.
• The Senators have won 76.5% of their games when scoring first (13-3-1), which is the second best in the NHL. They have also done a decent job when allowing the first goal, going 9-11-3.
• The Leafs have won just three times in 15 games when allowing the first goal (3-9-3).
• Karlsson is ten points behind Brent Burns for the defenceman scoring lead, and four points behind Victor Hedman in second place.
• Toronto has scored just three times in 18 shootout attempts this season./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from Corsica.