The Ottawa Senators continue their preseason schedule tonight against Robin Lehner and the Buffalo Sabres.
And as you might expect, the Senators aren’t exactly icing their best line up for this one.
As lovely as Buffalo is this time of year, I’d imagine most of Ottawa’s veteran players are happy to have the night off.
As far as NHL hopefuls go, only Cowen, Wideman, Prince, Greening, Puempel, Lazar, Pageau, Chiasson and Zibanejad will play for Ottawa tonight. Of that group, both Jean Gabriel Pageau and Curtis Lazar will be making their preseason debuts. Only Marc Methot and Mark Stone have yet to suit up for a game.
Here’s how the Senators will line up for this one.
Lindberg-Pageau-Lazar
Puempel-Zibanejad-Chiasson
Prince-McCormick-Dzingel
Greening-Ewanyk-Stortini
Cowen-Kostka
Lepine-wideman
Chabot-Mullen
The Sabres are icing something much closer to their actual team but that’s to be expected from the home team in a preseason game. Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Ennis and Sam Reinhart are all expected to play.
They’ll also have a familiar face in goal as Robin Lehner makes his preseason debut for the Sabres.
Lehner’s summer time departure obviously left a bad taste for some fans. And listening to some comments from Lehner in a recent interview with a Buffalo reporter, Lehner sort of feels the same way.
This is a couple days old but some interesting quotes from Lehner on his time in Ottawa. http://t.co/yYoEzL8Z81 pic.twitter.com/fipQHOFFtk
— SensChirp (@SensChirp) September 21, 2015
He felt like he never really got a “fair” shot here in Ottawa and that any time he played well, the Coach would bench him. This is a pretty massive exaggeration on Lehner’s part but I do understand his frustration.
He was the back up goalie here in Ottawa and was treated like it most of the time. That can be difficult for a young goalie and even more so when that goalie thinks he’s a starter.
This is one of those trades that will be talked about for years to come but the reality is, Lehner’s time in Ottawa had run its course. The Senators had doubts about his development well before Andrew Hammond burst on the scene. Having Hammond and O’Connor around just made it a little easier to roll the dice and deal a player once thought to be the future of the organization in goal.
Lehner is going to have every chance to succeed in Buffalo and I wish him all the best. Although I would enjoy watching Ottawa hang five or six on him in the regular season opener.
Puck drop tonight is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
