Ottawa @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 2, 2019 ) Ottawa 3, Toronto 5

The Toronto Maple Leafs stumbled into the All-Star break with five losses in six games but they easily passed their first two tests coming out of the eight-day layoff with a pair of convincing road victories at Nashville and Dallas. The Maple Leafs look to continue the momentum when they return home to host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night in the Battle of Ontario.

Toronto's potent offense erupted for five goals in each of the last two victories, marking the eighth consecutive game away from home in which it has scored at least four times. "It speaks to our ability to score goals and finish,” said coach Sheldon Keefe, whose club is among a logjam of teams battling for the two wild cards. “That is the strength of our team.” In its third game since the break, Ottawa was unable to keep up with Alex Ovechkin and Washington in a 5-3 setback at home. It was the 11th defeat in 13 games (2-6-5) for the Senators, who have been limited to three goals or fewer in each of the losses.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: CBC, TVAS, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet Pacific

ABOUT THE SENATORS (18-23-10): The All-Star break was beneficial for Craig Anderson, who was pierced for 22 goals during a five-start winless drought -- a slide that he ended by turning aside 28 of 30 shots at Buffalo on Tuesday. Anderson gave up five goals in a season-opening loss at Toronto to fall to 17-9-3 versus the Maple Leafs. Despite its league-worst power play, Ottawa is dangerous when down a skater, registering its NHL-best 12th short-handed goal -- and fourth in three games -- on Chris Tierney's fourth of the season.

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (27-17-7): Auston Matthews set a career high by scoring 40 times while playing in all 82 games as a rookie in 2016-17, and he is approaching that mark after goals in each of the last two contests pushed his season total to 36. Matthews scored nine times in 10 games in January to continue a sizzling stretch in which he has 20 goals over the last 21 games and also tallied twice in the early-season victory over Ottawa. Mitch Marner collected two assists Wednesday to finish the month with 14 points.

OVERTIME

1. Maple Leafs F William Nylander is riding a five-game goal streak and six-game point string.

2. Senators D Thomas Chabot had a goal and assist Friday and has four tallies and six points in seven games versus Toronto.

3. Maple Leafs backup G Michael Hutchinson takes a 3-7-1 record and 3.83 goals-against average into Saturday's start.

PREDICTION: Maple Leafs 4, Senators 2