The Ottawa Senators will have Jake Sanderson back in the lineup as Toronto's Battle of Ontario matchup gets a lot tougher.
As we head into Saturday night's slate of games, it's the first time we will get the Battle of Ontario between the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. Both teams went through some big changes this offseason, and it will be as intense a game as ever between the provincial rivals.
The Maple Leafs already have two games under their belt and are going to continue their early-season home stretch on Saturday meanwhile the Senators have yet to play a game, so the Maple Leafs have a bit of an advantage over them when it comes to getting used to the regular season grind.
Jake Sanderson comes in to give the Senators much-needed assistance
However the Senators aren't going to be without some big-time reinforcements however. According to the Ottawa Citizen's Bruce Garrioch, not only will Ottawa see the return of forward Warren Foegele, but the much-anticipated return of Jake Sanderson:
The expectation is that Sanderson will play, while coach Travis Green confirmed that Foegele will be activated from the club's injured reserve to suit up against the Leafs.
Sanderson, who hadn't skated with his teammates since he left last Saturday's final pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens, was on the ice for the third straight day and skated on the club's first pairing with Nikolas Matinpalo on Friday.
Sanderson is arguably the Senators' top defenseman and certainly their best offensive blue-liner. Last season, the 24-year-old had 14 goals and 54 points in 67 games for the Senators along with 128 hits while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time.
Can the Maple Leafs withstand the new-look Senators?
If Sanderson is coming back then it's going to be tougher than perhaps they initially thought if he was out. But knowing that they need to be on their best, it's going to be up to the stars to actually start contributing.
Not knocking Kirill Marchenkoas he was just kind of thrown into the fire and has done surprisingly well. But Auston Matthews and John Tavares have yet to score, Darren Raddysh needs to start using his shot more, and Gavin McKenna needs the first-point monkey off his back.
Luckily for Toronto they won't have to deal with Brady Tkachuk tonight, as he always made for a much tougher game despite Toronto's solid record against Ottawa as of late.
They'll also need to contend with a bit of a bitter Senators team that saw franchise icon and former captain and coach Daniel Alfredsson jump ship to join the Maple Leafs - a treasonous act if there ever was one.
But the main focus is that the Maple Leafs will need to find a way to suppress Sanderson because he could be a key reason why Toronto has a tougher Battle of Ontario ahead of them.
Who do you think will win tonight's Battle of Ontario?
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
Maple Leafs prospect unexpectedly left out of Marlies lineup after projected top-six role