It’s another Ottawa Senators GAME DAY.
And you know what that means? It’s time to see if our ol’ pal SensChirp can string together 400 words about this match-up between the Buffalo Sabres from Buffalo and the Ottawa Senators from Kanata.
That’s 40 words already! Things are looking pretty good folks.
While the Sens haven’t participated in a meaningful hockey game in months there’s still plenty to play for in these last seven games.
For example, with a win tonight the Senators would hit the 60 point mark on the season. Neat! And Marc Crawford’s next win in the NHL will be number 554, pulling him out of a tie for 21st all-time with Dave Tippett. How bout that?! And Chris Tierney’s next goal will be his 10th of the season, marking the THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON he has hit double digits in goals.
So don’t even try to tell me there’s nothing left to play for.
The 31st place Ottawa Senators host the 26th place Buffalo Sabres tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Much like Saturday’s opponent, the Sabres are a real life lesson on the harsh realities of a full-scale rebuild.
You can do everything right. You can accumulate an absurd number of draft picks. You can hire a really grumpy General Manager, a Stanley Cup winning Coach and have access to basically unlimited resources.You can bottom out and draft elite talent multiple times. But in the end, if you play in the City of Buffalo you are doomed to fail for an eternity.
That’s just how it works.
Marc Crawford met with the media yesterday in Ottawa and provided a few line up notes ahead of this SSS (Sabres-Sens Showdown). Both Cody Ceci and Zack Smith are VERY doubtful which is basically what we’ve been saying all along. Neither player is expected to play tonight.
Crawford will have his team on the ice for a game day twirl later but a best guess at the line up for now.
Tkachuk-Pageau-Veronneau
Duclair-Tierney-Boedker
Balcers-White-Ryan
Gibbons-Lindberg-Paajarvi
Chabot-DeMelo
Wolanin-Harpur
Borowiecki-Jaros
Craig Anderson comes into this one riding his longest winning streak in months (one game). Puck drop is scheduled for precisely 7:38 PM.
The game is televised on TSN5, RDS2 and on the world wide web at SenatorsSabres.org
I believe it was John Rockefeler that once said, “The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” With that in mind, the Head2Head table.
400 words!
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 31-35-9 (71 pts) | 26-43-6 (58 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.69 (T-23rd) | 2.96 (T-16th) |
| Goals Against | 3.25 (23rd) | 3.69 (31st) |
| Power Play | 18.2% (18th) | 20.3% (15th) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.7% (16th) | 79.1% (23rd) |
| Shots For | 32.6 (10th) | 29.9 (24th) |
| Shots Against | 33.1 (24th) | 36.0 (31st) |
| Leading Scorers | Eichel- 75 pts Reinhart- 61 pts Skinner- 59 pts |
Chabot- 50 pts Tierney- 46 pts Ryan- 39 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Carter Hutton 17-22-5 2.95 GAA, .909 sv% |
Craig Anderson 15-25-4 3.54 GAA, .902 sv% |
