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Sliding Sens head to Toronto

Nov 12, 2011 - 4:05 PM (Sports Network) - The Ottawa Senators will try to snap a five-game slide tonight when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Northeast Division battle at Air Canada Centre.

Ottawa has lost all five of its games (0-4-1) in November after closing last month on a six-game winning streak. The Senators haven't lost six straight since going 0-9-2 from Jan. 14-Feb. 9 of last season.

The Maple Leafs and Sens have met twice already this season, with Toronto posting a 6-5 home win on Oct. 8 and Ottawa answering with a 3-2 victory in Canada's capital on Oct. 30. Ottawa has taken four of seven overall in this series, but the Leafs have won four of the last six encounters at Air Canada Centre.

Ottawa lost its fifth straight game Friday in Buffalo, as Jhonas Enroth stopped 36 shots to help lead the Sabres to a 5-1 triumph. Sergei Gonchar recorded the lone tally for the Senators, who lost despite getting captain Daniel Alfredsson back after he missed the previous five games with a concussion.

Craig Anderson started for Ottawa and let in two goals on six shots before being pulled in the first period. Alex Auld finished the game and stopped 12- of-15 shots.

The Sabres jumped on the Senators early with two goals in the first 2:25 and Anderson's night was done.

"What can I say, left some garbage out front and they tapped it home, that's pretty much how my night went," Anderson said.

Friday's loss came on the first stop of a six-game road trip for the Sens, who are just 2-5-0 as the visiting club this season.

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season by posting a shootout victory Thursday in St. Louis. The 3-2 win came on the heels of back-to-back losses that saw Toronto get outscored by a combined 12-1 margin. Both of those lopsided setbacks came on home ice, where Toronto is 5-2-1 this season.

Phil Kessel scored the lone shootout goal to lift the Maple Leafs past the Blues. Kessel, who leads the NHL in both goals (12) and points (23), added a goal during regulation for Toronto.

John-Michael Liles also scored in the win, while rookie Ben Scrivens stopped 38 shots. It was just the third career start for Scrivens, who along with Jonas Gustavsson, is filling in for injured No. 1 goaltender James Reimer.

"(Scrivens) played really well," said Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. "Obviously, we needed that to get us at least one point and then we eventually won in the shootout."

Reimer was off to a 4-0-1 start to the season, but he hasn't played since sustaining head and neck injuries on Oct. 22 in Montreal. The team has yet to reveal a timetable for Reimer's return to the crease.

Mike Komisarek is expected to play tonight after the Leafs defenseman took a slash on the wrist from St. Louis forward Jason Arnott.