Game 13 preview: Ottawa Senators @ Buffalo Sabres

The Ottawa Senators will look to stop a two-game losing when they visit the Buffalo Sabres tonight. After losing 2-1 to the Sabres on Saturday, the Senators lost 3-1 in Nashville last night. Due to certain other events, I didn't pay too much attention to the game but it looks like the Senators were pretty close on the shot count, so there is that. On the down side there was no point for Erik Karlsson, so there weren't any real positives from that game.

The Senators recalled a gentleman by the name of Mike Blunden from the AHL. According to my sources, he is likely to replace Chris Neil in the lineup who is banged up. The other change to the lineup will be that Mike Condon will start in net. Ottawa did not skate today but here are the expected lines from Ken Warren.

Ryan - Brassard - Stone
Dzingel - Turris - Smith
Hoffman - Pageau - Pyatt
Puempel - Kelly - Blunden

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Borowiecki - Claesson

Condon (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

• After a couple of losses, the Senators have fallen into the final wild card spot. Can they hang on over the next 70 games?
• Excluding empty net goals, the Senators have scored exactly one goal in regulation for each of the past five games. That they have managed to actually win three of those games is a minor miracle.
• Mark Stone has just five points and 18 shots on goal through the first 11 games.
• Had you heard of Mike Blunden before?
• Tonight will be Erik Karlsson's 262nd consecutive game.
• The Senators have four power play goals this year with Karlsson and Mike Hoffman having points on three of them.
• Robin Lehner has a 92.5 save percentage this year. He has had a very good start to the season after struggling with injuries last year. In 30 starts since joining Buffalo, Lehner has a 92.5 save percentage.
• The Sabres will also get Evander Kane back in the lineup tonight.
• How do the Senators start to score more? While they were leaking goals at the start of the year, now they simply can't score. This team on paper has the talent to be scoring a fair bit.
• This will be the first time Craig Anderson is a backup since he took a leave of absence./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net.