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Maple Leafs hope Soshnikov returns against Senators (Feb 18, 2017)
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs expect to have right winger Nikita Soshnikov back in the lineup Saturday night when they play the Ottawa Senators at the Air Canada Centre, but center Mitch Marner likely will not be available.
Soshnikov has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury and Marner left the 5-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on Wednesday in Columbus with an apparent right shoulder injury.
"Soshnikov is ready to go, he's dying to get in," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
Josh Leivo has played well on a line with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov in the absence of Soshnikov.
Marner, who has 15 goals and 33 assists in 56 games as a rookie, did not work out with the team Friday morning, but Babcock still hoped he could play Saturday.
"Obviously, if I'm in charge he's in," Babcock said. "If the doctors are in charge, they'll decide (Saturday)."
Marner fell awkwardly into the boards during the second period Wednesday. He returned to play two shifts in the third before calling it a game.
"It's a long season; there's obviously going to be injuries here and there," Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak said. "It happens with every team, so you've just got to battle through it."
The Senators defeated the Devils 3-0 in New Jersey on Thursday and Babcock watched the game.
"I really was impressed," Babcock said. "I thought they did a good job. We showed some clips from our last game and some from Ottawa and prepared specifically to have success.
"I think one of the biggest things is understanding how you need to play versus how you want to play. We're not in junior anymore.
"There is no space in there. We're not in college anymore. There's no space out there. We're not in the American league anymore. There's no space.
"Understand, there is no space. So how are we going to create it and make plays and be on the winning side? That's one of the biggest things we go over on a daily basis."
This will be the final meeting between the teams in the regular season. The Senators won 5-4 in overtime on Oct. 12 in Ottawa and 3-2 in a shootout on Jan. 21 in Toronto. The Maple Leafs won 4-2 on Jan. 14 in Ottawa.
The Senators (30-19-6) are second in the Atlantic Division and the Maple Leafs (26-19-11) are fourth. The Senators are 5-4-1 in their past 10 games; the Leafs are 3-5-2 in their past 10.
"We need to take care of ourselves and not focus on what other teams are doing," Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "I feel we've done a good job to put ourselves in this position. We're happy where we are, but we're here to win games. At the end of the day, as long as we do our job, we should be pretty satisfied."
Karlsson, Dion Phaneuf and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators against the Devils. Mike Condon posted the shutout in his first start since Feb. 9.
Center Curtis Lazar returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for four games in a row. Defenseman Marc Methot was ill and was replaced by Frederik Claesson as Karlsson's defense partner.
"Teams know how we play; we clog the neutral zone and live off turnovers, turning the puck over and then counterattack," said Phanuef, the former Maple Leafs defenseman. "When we do that, we don't give up a lot. We want to stay to our structure and when we do the odds are in our favor."
Phaneuf has scored three goals in four games and has nine this season.
"Every point is so important," Phaneuf said. "You play all kinds of games throughout a season. (Thursday), there wasn't a lot given up by either team early and the shot totals were down.
"We found a way to continue to push. We talked about putting more pucks on their net and once we started to do that, we could feel the momentum turn."
