Ladies and gentleman, this is the game we have all be waiting for.
In one corner, you have the shockingly bad Ottawa Senators.
Fresh off an appearance in the Conference Final last year, the Senators are in the midst of one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. Bad g0altending, dreadful special teams and a nightmare on defence. Their 23-32-10 record has them sitting in 29th place.
And in the other corner, you have the perpetually bad Buffalo Sabres.
Their rebuild started five or six years ago and any day now, they’ll start to show some signs of improvement. Dreadful offence, equally terrible defence and a complete lack of talent throughout their line up. The Sabres come into tonight’s contest with a 21-35-11 record, which as of this morning, has them sitting in dead last in the National Hockey League.
Bad meets Worse in what can best be described as….THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR.
With 17 games left in their season, the Senators are actually starting to show some sign of life. They look like a much better team since the trade deadline and their games have been reasonably entertaining of late. And that’s sort of unfortunate for fans hoping the team can maximize their chances when the balls are grabbed at the end of April.
And that’s why there will be times today when this feels like a pro-Sabres community, if such a thing even exists. And on SabresChirp, you’d likely find just the opposite.
All this talk of tanking will come to a head tonight, especially when you consider that just three points separate these teams in the standings.
Based on the line combinations at yesterday’s practice, it seems like Max McCormick will be the odd man out up front. Erik Burgdoerfer, who is still with the team apparently, is expected to sit as well. A best guess at the line up based on how Boucher had them yesterday.
Dzingel-Duchene-Hoffman
Ryan-Pageau-Stone
Paajarvi-Smith-Pyatt
Burrows-O’Brien-Gaborik
Claesson-Karlsson
Harpur-Ceci
Borowiecki-Chabot
Craig Anderson gets the start in goal. Puck drop in the Battle for the Basement is set for just after 7:30 PM.
GO SAB err SENS GO!
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 |
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 21-35-11 (53 pts) | 23-32-10 (56 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.39 (31st) | 2.69 (24th) |
| Goals Against | 3.25 (28th) | 3.40 (30th) |
| Power Play | 17.2% (25th) | 16.8% (27th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.6% (21st) | 75.7% (28th) |
| Shots For Shots Against |
30.4 (24th) 32.6 (23rd) |
30.5 (23rd) 33.1 (26th) |
| Team Save % | .900% (T-27th) | .897% (29th) |
| Scoring Leaders | Eichel- 53 pts O’Reilly- 49 pts Kane- 40 pts |
Stone- 61 pts Karlsson- 49 pts Hoffman- 44 pts |
| Draft Lottery % | 18.0% | 10.5% |
