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Maple Leafs-Senators Preview

Mar 6, 2010 - 3:51 AM By CHRIS ALTRUDA STATS Editor

Toronto (19-32-12) at Ottawa (36-25-4), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Goaltender Brian Elliott was a key reason the Ottawa Senators surged to the top of the Northeast Division prior to the Olympic break. It now seems he will also determine just how far they go the rest of the way.

Elliott is expected to start Saturday night when the Senators host their provincial archrivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and try to avoid a third consecutive loss since the hiatus.

Ottawa (36-25-4) has dropped 4-1 decisions to the New York Rangers and Carolina since play resumed, and fallen one point behind Buffalo for the Northeast lead. While Elliott absorbed the defeat to the Rangers on Tuesday, he also backstopped the Senators to nine victories during their franchise-record 11-game winning streak from Jan. 14-Feb. 4 while Pascal Leclaire recovered from a fractured cheekbone.

Leclaire got his chance Thursday, but coach Cory Clouston gave him a quick hook after he allowed two goals to the Hurricanes in the first 6:23. Elliott stopped 14 of 15 shots in relief and appears to have secured the No. 1 spot for the stretch run.

"We needed a kick in the pants and a little bit of a shakeup and trying to get the momentum back on our side," Clouston said. "We had our chances, but it came down to goaltending."

The 24-year-old Elliott, though, has shown little of the form that helped Ottawa surge into the playoff race when facing Toronto this season. He is 0-2-0 with a 4.28 goals-against average, and was pulled after two periods of a 5-0 road defeat Feb. 6 that ended Ottawa's record run.

Elliott is 1-3-1 with a 3.46 GAA lifetime against Toronto.

Senators defenseman Filip Kuba is questionable with a lower-body injury, while rookie blueliner Erik Karlsson is still sidelined by a shoulder injury suffered prior to the Olympic break.

While the Senators appear to have settled on a goaltender for the stretch run, Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson is spending that time to evaluate his younger players as he and general manager Brian Burke continue to rebuild the team. Toronto (19-32-12) also has lost both its games since the Olympic break, though it did pick up a point in Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss at Boston.

Rookies Tyler Bozak and Viktor Stalberg scored for the Maple Leafs, who currently have 10 players on the roster 25 or younger.

"I need to be patient and help these guys learn what it takes to play in the NHL," said Wilson, who guided a young U.S. team to an Olympic silver medal in Vancouver. "We're going to hit rough patches and struggle at times to score, but with our efforts like we had last night, we'll improve rapidly."

Bozak has scored three of his four goals in the last five games, and has 12 points in 18 games overall. Stalberg's goal was his first since Dec. 21.

Toronto, which is last in the East with 50 points, has been held to six goals during its current four-game losing streak (0-3-1).

While the Maple Leafs have beaten Elliott in the last two games between the teams this season, the Senators won a pair of one-goal games in the first two.