Game 40 Hub: Buffalo Sabres @ Ottawa Senators

After 9 games on the road, the Ottawa Senators are finally home. The Sens actually went 4-4-1 on their trip, which means that it didn't sink the season. Ottawa is technically 1 point out of a playoff spot now, but with 2 games in hand on Columbus (and 3 on Pittsburgh), so they're still in OK shape. They now have 24 home games (including tonight) and 19 road games left on the season, so there's no excuse for having a sub-.500 record here on out.

Thursday's OT loss against the Red Wings had some bright spots. Anton Forsberg made several high-impact saves (especially this one) to preserve the loser point, and Tim Stützle got his first point (an assist) and shots on goal (4) in four games. The former is streaky but has been known to put together good stretches, and the latter seems to be recovering from his flu bug. Anton Forsberg was the first goalie off the ice today, so he likely gets the start tonight, while Nikolas Matinpalo will get into his seventh career game with Travis Hamonic and Jacob Bernard-Docker both out weeks with injuries. Here are the projected lines.

The Sabres for their part have called up prospect Tyson Kozak, meaning he will take the fourth-line centre spot while Jack Quinn moves up to centre the third line. Here's their lineup from Monday against the Caps:

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen should get the start.

My Thoughts:

• Let's see if home is truly the boost we're expecting for these Sens. At times they looked very tired on this road trip.
• Jenik and Ostapchuk were both under 8 minutes last game, which is as expected, but Gaudette and Gregor were under 11 minutes, while Cousins played 17:13. Not that long ago, I was saying that Cousins' penalties weren't worth the upside, but he's actually playing pretty well now, and it seems that Travis Green agrees. Though in an ideal world, Nick Cousins isn't playing second-line minutes.
• One thing about playing at home is the last change, and I'm curious if Green plays a bit more of his fourth line when he can control the matchup. I would've wondered the same about Kleven and Matinpalo, but they played 14 minutes last game and I don't see that going up.
• It's easy to feel down because the Sens are on a 1-4-1 stretch, but a month ago we all expected a worse result on this road trip. This team, other than maybe the St. Louis and Dallas games, has looked fine on this trip.
• Brady Tkachuk is fourth in the league in shots, and second in shots per game. Dude shots a lot. Considering that first in those categories are David Pastrnak and Auston Matthews, respectively, I think it's safe to say that being at the top is a very good thing.
• I appreciate that the Buffalo Sabres, despite being American, spell sabre the correct way. Apparently the name was submitted by a Torontonian, so I'm glad the original owners saw fit to keep the submitted spelling.
• The Sabres practised with loud music yesterday, apparently to simulate the noise in the CTC?
• Apparently the Detroit Red Wings have been targeting Dylan Cozens, which would be a blockbuster for sure. I'm not sure what they'd give up though to get Cozens, because I don't think they'd want to give up a player of a similar stature and age, and I can't imagine the Sabres just want to tear it down and start over yet again.
• These Sabres are bottom of the East, and though they're removed from the 13-game losing streak from earlier this season, they still are 1-2-1 since New Year's Eve. This is a should-win, between the Sabres being so bad and the Sens being back at home, so let's hope it's not a trap game.

Team Stats:

Player Stats:

(as always, stats via NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com)