Game 20 Preview & Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Buffalo Sabres

“The Ottawa Senators are winning games” isn’t the sentence I was expecting to open this preview with, but here we are. The Sens have won four of their last five games, including last night’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Playoffs are still a massive long shot after their expectedly treacherous start, but the team has been rolling as of late.

There’s no morning skate today due to the team’s travel schedule, meaning the lines and pairings will likely stay the same from yesterday. The only confirmed difference is the starting goalie with Craig Anderson getting the nod.

Game Notes

• The Senators have lost eleven games. The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost twelve games. I’ll let you do the math.
• While the Senators have been racking up wins, the Sabres have been the NHL’s coldest team as of late, having lost their last six straight. They managed to get a point against Carolina on Thursday, but they’re still searching for their first win in November.
• Curtis Lazar is expected to play against his former team for the third time tonight. He played his first game of the season against the Hurricanes, scoring his first NHL goal since February 2018.
• In his first game back from injury, Logan Brown was Ottawa’s leader in ice time on the power play. It’s great to see D.J. Smith finally starting to show some trust to the rookies, including Filip Chlapik.
• Mark Borowiecki, of all people, is riding a three-game point streak, and is on pace for 35 points in 82 games. That’s more than triple his career high.
• The NHL’s worst power play (Ottawa) takes on one of the NHL’s weakest penalty kills (Buffalo). Which one will prevail?
• Game time is 7:00 PM, and you can catch the game on SN1, TVAS2 or MSG-B./

Here are some stats for tonight’s matchup from NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick:

Player Stats

Team Stats