Coming off a couple overtime losses, the Sabres travel to Ottawa to take on their division rival at the Canadian Tire Centre. While both teams seemingly in a better position than last year, Buffalo is looking to continue their decent October and build momentum into the second month of the year.
Season series: This will be the first of four meetings against the Senators this year. They will meet once again this Saturday at KeyBank Center with puck drop scheduled for 2 p.m. Last season, both teams split victories, but the Sabres finished with a 2-1-1 record, including a shootout win against Ottawa.
Buffalo notes: Despite the Sabres losing two consecutive games in extra time, including a tough 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames that brought a strong reaction from the team, they finished the month 6-4-2, their best start since 2011.
A strong performance by the Sabres last game could give them momentum heading into tonight’s game. This start will hopefully benefit the Sabres, especially considering this is the start of a home-and-home that will see the Senators come to Buffalo on Saturday afternoon. Tonight will also mark the 1,000th career game for Jason Pominville, who played his first full season with the Sabres in 2005.
“Even though we didn’t play up to our standard, we had a chance to win a hockey game…it’s unfortunate that a puck bounces off Risto, we had an opportunity with our power play in the OT…and our goalie Carter Hutton gave us a chance to win.”- Phil Housley
Ottawa notes: Coming into the month of November with a 4-5-2 record, the Sens are looking to bounce back from last season and the events that transpired. The Senators are currently in the midst of a four-game losing streak and will look to use the two-game set against Buffalo in the hopes of ending the current slide. However, the team won three straight earlier on, signaling that the potential that exists for Ottawa.