With consecutive wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild, the Senators have a pulse.
It’s faint. You have to want to hear it. But it’s there. The gap between them and the final playoff spot is still massive and they’re clearly running out of racetrack. It would be pretty easy for them to pack it in at this point and just coast down the stretch.
Not sure that’s in the cards for this team though. They pulled off a miracle last season and listening to the players talk, it sounds like they legitimately feel like it’s possible again this year. And while the deck is stacked against them, I expect this team to go down swinging.
It starts with a tough back to back this weekend- tonight in Buffalo and then back home to take on the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night.
The rebuilding Buffalo Sabres have taken strides this year but are once again stuck near the bottom of the standings. They come into tonight with a 28-33-10 record, good enough for 25th overall. That includes a -24 goal differential and a 13-18-6 record on home ice. Tim Murray did the easy part of the rebuild, added to the line up with trades (Kane, Lehner, O’Reilly) and now has to find a way to make this team a contender.
Still lots of young talent on this team and they’re going to keep getting better but like the Oilers, I see them as a cautionary tale that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to rebuilding and no approach guarantees a contending team.
We’ll wait till the morning skate to find out for sure but it seems like the Senators will go with the same line up as the last couple games. Zack Smith missed practice yesterday but is expected to be ready to go tonight. Patrick Wiercioch also missed yesterday’s practice and is not expected to play.
Will add the lineup once the Senators hit the ice for their pre-game skate in Buffalo.
And here’s this…just because.
