7:00PM ET SNET-O, Mapleleafs.com (Ontario)
10:00PM ET NHL Network HD (US)
Tonight kicks off the preseason when our hated provincial rivals do us the honor of getting worked in front of everyone who won free tickets from a popular soda company who is welcome to sponsor us if they'd prefer their name be mentioned.
We won't see Phil Kessel torch the Sens tonight but we will see Nazem Kadri get a look between Colby Armstrong and Kris Versteeg. From Jonas Siegel's twitter here are your lines:
Versteeg, Kadri, Armstrong.
Rosehill, Hanson, Brown.
D'Amigo, Irwin, Mueller.
Hamilton, Zigomanis, Crabb.
Gunnarsson - Phaneuf.
Lebda - Kaberle.
Gysbers - Lashoff.
Gustavsson
Rynnas
The goalies will split tonight's game. Ottawa will start Lehner in net which honestly makes me wish we could see Phil Kessel hang eight goals on him alone.
Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezzaa, Milan Michalek, Alex Kovalev, Chris Phillips and Pascal Leclaire will stay at home. - Ottawa Citizen
Looks like we'll have to wait a few weeks for Phaneuf to murder an integral part of the Senators team. Shucks. I can't find a Sens roster right now but they could be bringing forward prospect Bobby Butler (NCAA UFA last season), and defense prospects Jared Cowen and Patrick Wiercioch.
Update: Senators' line-up for tonight is decidedly light on experience:
Forwards
Bobby Butler, Nick Foligno, Matt Hoffman, Ryan Keller, Corey Locke, Chris Neil, Ryan Shannon, Zack Smith, Tim Spencer, Roman Wick, Jesse Winchester
Defence
Andre Benoit, Chris Campoli, Matt Carkner, Jared Cowan, David Hale, Brian Lee
Goalies
Robin Lehner
Brian Elliott
Mike Brown, Brett Lebda, Colby Armstrong and Kris Versteeg will all be making their Leafs debut tonight and I'm stoked. Sitting at work wearing my Mike Komisarek shirt underneath my fancy attire: 7PM can't come soon enough.
The pre-season isn't terribly indicative of how the regular season will go but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves. Last preseason was awesome. This one will be too. Go Leafs go!
