BY WEB STAFF
sportsnet.ca

The Toronto Maple Leafs will ice a new lineup on Wednesday night and that can't be a bad thing.

The Leafs look to rebound from an embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators when the two teams face off for a second consecutive night at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.

Ottawa won the pre-season opener 5-0 on Tuesday night, with the Leafs only managing to score a shower of boos from their home fans. Senators goalie prospect Robin Lehner stopped all 24 shots he faced while playing the full 60 minutes in goal. Jesse Winchester, Nick Foligno, Corey Locke, Chris Neil and Chris Kelly scored for Ottawa.

In hopes of injecting some offence, Toronto's top line of Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin will make its exhibition debut. Leafs head coach Ron Wilson told media on Wednesday that he expects to keep certain player pairs together while experimenting with different line combinations and the Kessel-Bozak grouping is one pair he thinks works well together. Only forwards Jerry D'Amigo and Jay Rosehill will be back in the lineup from Tuesday's loss.

The backend will also look different for the Leafs with six new defencemen and two different goaltenders suiting up. Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin and Luke Schenn will see their first pre-season action while Ben Scrivens and James Reimer will be in net for Toronto.

Brian Elliott, who will battling for the No. 1 role in Ottawa this season, will start between the pipes on Wednesday and is expected to play the full game. In 55 games last season, Elliott was 29-18-4 with a 2.57 goals against average and .909 save percentage.

Top defensive prospects Jared Cowen and Patrick Wiercioch are also expected to suit up for the Senators on Wednesday. The two will be trying to impress with an open spot available on Ottawa's blue line following Filip Kuba's leg injury.

Cowen made his NHL debut last season, playing in one game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in April. Should Wiercioch dress against the Leafs Wednesday, it will be his first game with the team.

Ottawa's big guns -- Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Sergei Gonchar -- didn't make the trip and will again sit out Wednesday night.