The Buffalo Sabres are looking to avoid a nine game losing streak tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators in the home finale of the season.
Ottawa has won and lost alternating games coming into this contest. Their last game saw a victory over the New York Rangers, 4-1, last night in New York.
Meanwhile, the Sabres are coming off of a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators Tuesday night. The Sabres actually played fairly well in the contest, but had a goal count that probably shouldn’t have, and had a goal of their own wiped out, that probably shouldn’t have been.
Season series:
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between these two clubs. Ottawa currently holds a 2-1 edge over the Sabres on the year, with the last contest resulting in a 4-0 Ottawa victory.
Of note, the Sabres lone victory on the season against the Senators was the 9-2 drubbing that saw Jason Pominville, Jack Eichel, and Jeff Skinner notch three points apiece.
Buffalo notes:
The Sabres come into this game clearly riding out the rest of the season. There is some reason to believe a high-effort night is in the offing, given this is the last home game of the season, and that they played with reasonable efficiency on Tuesday night as well.
Both Victor Olofsson and Alex Nylander have shown some flashes of potential in their call-up stints, and Sabres fans hope to see that trend continue for next year’s squad.
Ottawa notes:
The Senators, who are guaranteed to finish last in the Atlantic Division this year have been playing pretty well of late. In their last five games, they’ve scored victories over Buffalo, Toronto, and the Rangers last night.
Four different goal scorers potted and Colin White added two assists in the 4-1 win last night. Anders Nilsson made 27 saves on 28 shots as well.
Of interesting note for this evening, Ottawa will be starting a rookie goaltender in the contest this evening. Fresh off of a season with Arizona State University, rookie Joey Daccord will man the pipes for Ottawa, for his first NHL action.
Starting Goaltenders:
For the Sabres, Carter Hutton will start in between the pipes. He has lost his last five starting contests, though the last game against Nashville was a pretty solid one for him, making 32 saves on 35 shots against. For his career, Hutton has a 3-4-0 record against the Senators.
As was mentioned before, Joey Accord will get a taste of the NHL with his first professional start tonight. A 2015 7th round pick of Ottawa, Accord compiled a 21-12-1 record with a 2.36 goals-against-average and a .926 save percentage on the campaign for the Sun Devils.