Rookie Tournament Game 2: Ottawa Senators vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Will the Sens go 2-0 in Game 2? Tune in at 4pm EST!
UPDATE: Thomas Chabot and Colin White will not be in the lineup tonight. The rationale? “Doing so will provide greater opportunity for players on tryouts/vying for a spot at training camp later this week in Ottawa.”
After dominating the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, the Sens rookies are back in action at 4 p.m EST against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team will be hoping to go 2-0, while the Leafs will aim to rebound from a 5-2 loss to the Habs on Friday night.
Again, line combos are a mystery, but here’s how the Senators lined up yesterday:
Perron – Brown – Rodewald
Formenton – White – Gagne
Gennaro* – Chlapik – Batherson
Kelly* – Suter* – Dow*
Topping*
Chabot – Jaros
Murray – Erkamps
Lajoie – Beaudoin*
Englund - Donaghey
And here’s the roster that Toronto used against Montreal:
Grundstrom - Winquist - Bracco
Marchment - Dupuy - Korostelev
Pospisil - Bobylev - Dzierkals
Coskey* - McGregor - Piccinich
Neilsen - Rasanen
Middleton - Liljegren
Mattinen - Duquette*
Gordeev - Smart*
*Denotes not part of the organization, participating in tournament on ATO
A few notes:
- The Leafs have a larger camp roster compared to the Sens, so there will be some changes to the lineup. According to Kristen Shilton, Trevor Moore and Dmytro Timashov will definitely be in, with Carl Grundstrom likely. Meanwhile, on defence, Keaton Middleton and Travis Dermott are precautionary but could find themselves in the lineup.
- On the Sens side, the only potential change would be in goal. But given that Bailie is on an ATO and only here because Jordan Hollett got the flu, I’d expect Marcus Hogberg to get his second straight start.
- Colin earmarked Pius Suter as a player to watch yesterday, but he didn’t end up playing all that much. Given that the Sens have to make a decision on him soon, I’d expect him to play more this afternoon. He’s extremely active defensively and on the PK, and often plays high in the offensive zone.
- Most of the ‘big’ underperformers last season (Logan Brown, Francis Perron, Gabriel Gagne) showed up last night. It’s only one game, though, and the Leafs roster is more skilled than the Habs. Despite an almost-guaranteed invite to main camp, watch to see if this trio performs again tonight.
- While Chabot starred, Colin White wasn’t able to do much in the offensive zone. Look for him to try and take advantage of an inexperienced group of centres in the Leafs lineup and drive play up the middle tonight.
- Meanwhile, Leafs fans will be hoping that Erik Karlsson wannabe Timothy Liljegren has a better night tonight. He was on the ice for a ton of goals against Montreal: for, and against. Carl Grundstrom, a player drafted around the same time as ex-Sens pick Jonathan Dahlen, will get his first action tonight after playing in the SHL last season. Jeremy Bracco is another skilled winger; Logan Brown knows him well from Windsor’s Memorial Cup run.
- If you want to read more about who to look out for on the Leafs side, check out game recaps from PPP and The Leafs Nation!/
Unlike last night, tonight’s match should be broadcast live on NHL.com, which you can find here.