After an impressive Saturday afternoon win in Boston, the Ottawa Senators kick off a busy week heading into the holiday break.
The Senators will play five games in the next eight nights, including four on the road. It’s a crucial stretch for Ottawa if they want to force their way back into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. It starts tonight against an improved Buffalo Sabres team.
A game against Tim Murray’s Sabres might look like an easy one on paper but the Sabres have actually been playing pretty well of late. They have won nine times in their last 12 games and currently sit just three points back of Ottawa in the East. They are still getting outplayed pretty badly but have been able to grind out some wins against good teams over the last few weeks. A lot of that has to do with incredible goaltending from the duo of Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth. Both goalies have save percentages hovering around the .920 mark.
On the Ottawa side of things, the Senators roster continues to change due to injury. Zack Smith, Chris Neil and Marc Methot are all on the injured reserve list, opening up a couple spots on the Ottawa roster. Jean Gabriel Pageau was recalled from Binghamton but based on the morning skate, will not play tonight in Buffalo. Pageau was skating as an extra during this morning’s line rushes.
On defence, it looks like Cameron will go with the same six defenceman. That would mean a second straight game in the pressbox for Chris Phillips.
We’ll wait for the final word from Cameron following the morning skate but based on the morning skate, here’s how the Senators will line up for this one.
MacArthur-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Greening-Legwand-Michalek
Condra-Lazar-Chiasson
Borowiecki-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Wiercioch-Gryba
Robin Lehner gets his second straight start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM with the game available on TSN5.
