Pre-season Game Notes: Sens vs. Maple Leafs

The Sens are set to kick off the 2018-19 pre-season tonight in Lucan, ON against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Kraft Hockeyville and we've got some details on what you can expect from their line-up this evening.

Up Front

If today's line rushes at the morning skate are any indication, a few of the younger players are being given a look in some key roles. For starters Alex Formenton, who played the last two seasons just down the road from Lucan with the London Knights, was lined up with Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel for parts of this morning as head coach Guy Boucher begins the audition process in the top 6. Duchene did share after practice that Bobby Ryan will fill out the top line tonight but the coach hinted he could roll some players, like Formenton, through as the game goes on.

"I think Bobby is with us tonight," said Duchene. "Dzingel and I played a lot together last year and he's a guy that I think can be and will be a 30-goal scorer in this league and we played together with Bobby last year too so we want to have a good game tonight."
Colin White makes the shift back to centre tonight and will skate with Mikkel Boedker in his Senators pre-season debut. White has spent time both on the wing and down the middle over his 23 career NHL games but with Jean-Gabriel Pageau out for at least 6 months with an injury, White will be given an opportunity to anchor a top 6 line in training camp.
With it looking like Ryan and Formenton will swap places from the morning skate roles to start the game, here's a look at the Sens projected forward lines tonight:
Ryan - Duchene - Dzingel
Formenton - White - Boedker
Tambellini - Brown - Batherson
Paul - Balisy - Rodewald

On D

The defence looked pretty familiar again this morning as the duos of Mark Borowiecki - Chris Wideman and Christian Wolanin - Dylan DeMelo were once again paired together. Tonight will also mark Wideman's first game since suffering a hamstring tear on November 16th, 2017 and subsequently missing the bulk of last season.
Wolanin, who made his NHL debut late last season, continues to impress at training camp and will skate alongside DeMelo in his first game in a Sens jersey following last week's trade with San Jose. On paper, it looks to have the makings of a successful pairing as Wolanin's puck-moving skills should mesh nicely with DeMelo's defensive abilities.
Here's a look at how the defence looked during today's morning skate:
Borowiecki - Wideman
Wolanin - DeMelo
Sieloff - Burgdoerfer

In Goal

Mike Condon gets the start in net tonight and is expected to split the crease duties in Lucan with Marcus Hogberg. Condon, who appeared in 31 games for the Senators last season and finished 2017-18 with a record of 5-17-5, was the team's leader in save percentage (.902) and goals against (3.25) in 2017-18. Both he and starter Craig Anderson will be looking for bounce back seasons between the pipes this year in Ottawa.