Sens head coach D.J. Smith met with the media in Toronto late this afternoon and confirmed that he'll stick with the same forwards and defence as last night's 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals. Smith, who was an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs from 2015-2019, shared that his preparation for this game had more of an internal focus as he looks to push his team to improve down the stretch.
"For us, it's all about what we do every day," said the coach. "We have to continue to get better, we have to make sure that we're better at the end of the year than we were at the start so I'm more worried about our guys than them."
Another ex-Maple Leaf will be looking to extend his current scoring-streak against his former team tonight as Tyler Ennis has points in his last 4 games (2G, 3A over that span). Ennis has been an offensive spark for the Senators this season and sits tied for 4th in team scoring (with Thomas Chabot) and has recorded 30 points (13G, 17A) in 51 games with Ottawa.
Here's a look at the Sens' projected line-up tonight against the Maple Leafs:
Tkachuk - Pageau - Brown
Namestnikov - Tierney - Duclair
Ennis - White - Batherson
Chlapik - Anisimov - Sabourin
Chabot - Hainsey
Borowiecki - DeMelo
Reilly - Zaitsev