The Ottawa Senators are on the road this evening for their first collision of four with the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Puckdrop is at 7pm from TSN5, RDS2, and MSG-B.

The Buffalo Sabres are off to a rough start to their season under new head coach Lindy Ruff. They lost both Global Series games and had the viral practice scrum between new captain Rasmus Dahlin and the prized prospect from the Jack Eichel trade — Peyton Krebs. They are also currently on a three game losing streak, their second one of the regular season.

Buffalo also has alarming special teams, including the worst power play in hockey with bottom ten penalty kill, goals against per game, and face off possession.

They are also have near bottom of the league goaltendinng. Devon Levi is 58th of 71 at 3.91GAA and 53rd with a 0.878 save percentage. Ukko-Pekka Lukkonnen is 46th of 71 at 3.16 and 44th with a 0.893 save percentage.

Ottawa comes in tonight with a win over the Kraken at home, including their second shutout of the year. Anton Forsberg has been riding red hot earning both shutouts. Staios and company the same flame can be lit under offseason acquisition, and former Sabres’ draft pick Linus Ullmark.

They are also riding the best goals for in the division with a +9. They have allowed the fewest goals against at 33.

The big red flag for the Senators is their road record. They are a 1-4-0 away from the Canadian Tire Centre. They are -9 away from their barn; against the East they are winless and a -4.

Ullmark is expected to get the go against UPL.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

JJ Peterka -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch
Zach Benson -- Dylan Cozens -- Jack Quinn
Jason Zucker -- Ryan McLeod -- Jordan Greenway
Beck Malenstyn -- Peyton Krebs -- Sam Lafferty

Bowen Byram -- Rasmus Dahlin
Jacob Bryson -- Owen Power
Mattias Samuelsson -- Henri Jokiharju

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Devon Levi

Scratched: Connor Clifton, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Jiri Kulich,

Injured: None

Ottawa Senators

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Ridly Greig

Claude Giroux -- Josh Norris -- Drake Batherson

Noah Gregor -- Zack Ostapchuk -- Michael Amadio

Nick Cousins -- Adam Gaudette -- Zack MacEwen

Jake Sanderson -- Travis Hamonic

Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen

Tyler Kleven -- Jacob Bernard-Docker

Linus Ullmark

Anton Forsberg

Scratched: David Perron

Injured: Artem Zub (concussion), Shane Pinto (undisclosed)


Players to Watch

Buffalo — Tage Thompson — 7 points in his previous 5, the American power forward is looking to lock himself on the Four Nations roster.

Ottawa — Tim Stützle — the German center has 8 points in his previous five, including 3 goals and 5 assists.

Predicted Final Score

OTT - 4

BUF - 1


More to come…

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