OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: April 10, 3-2 win vs. Carolina: Giroux recorded two goals and one assist to register 1,000 career NHL points in Ottawa’s 3-2 victory at Canadian Tire Centre. The win stood as their 24th home victory of the season, the Senators’ most in one campaign since 2009-10. Combined with Dallas’ Pavelski hitting the milestone later in the evening, it marked the first time in league history two players reached 1,000 points on the same day. Stützle provided one goal and one assist with the helper counting as his 50th of the year to become the youngest Ottawa skater to record a 50-assist season. Tkachuk had two assists in the game as Pesce and Burns scored for Carolina to give the Hurricanes their 11th contest this season with goals from multiple defencemen. The game saw a matchup of two Danish born goaltenders for the first time in league history as Sogaard earned the win in making 26 saves while Andersen took the loss with 29 stops. Scratches: None; Injuries: Brassard, Chabot, Chychrun, Forsberg, Hamonic, Joseph, Kelly,
Norris, Watson; Shots: OTT – 32, CAR – 28; PP: OTT – 0-6, CAR – 1-5.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: This evening’s game against Buffalo will be broadcast regionally on TSN5 and RDS2. On the radio, the game will be available locally via TSN 1200 (English) and 94,5 Unique-FM (French).
WHAT’S NEXT: Ottawa will open its 2023-24 training camp at Canadian Tire Centre on a to be determined date in mid-September.
INJURY REPORT: G Forsberg and C Norris are on IR and will not oppose the Sabres this evening. F Kelly has missed the last 15 games with a lower-body injury. D Chychrun has missed the last nine games with a lower body injury. D Chabot has missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury. F Brassard and D Hamonic have missed the last six games with lower-body injuries. F Watson has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury. Total man-games lost: 321.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Re-assigned D Bernard-Docker and recalled D Guenette to/from Belleville (AHL) on April 11.
OTTAWA vs. BUFFALO – History:
2022-23 (2-1-0): Oct. 13 @ Buffalo (4-1 loss), Nov. 16 @ Ottawa (4-1 win), Jan. 1 @ Ottawa (3-1 win), April 13 @ Buffalo
2021-22 (2-1-0): 1/18/22 @ Ottawa (3-1 loss), 1/25/22 @ Ottawa (5-0 win), 2/17/22 @ Buffalo (3-1 win)
Series record: Overall: 69-57-10-15; Home: 39-23-7-9; Away: 30-34-3-6
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: Jan. 1 (3-1); @ Buffalo: 2/17/22 (3-1)
Last Buffalo win: @ Ottawa: 1/18/22 (3-1); @ Buffalo: Oct. 13 (4-1)
Last OT result: 2/15/18 (3-2 OT win) @ Ottawa
Last shootout: 3/8/18 (4-3 SO loss) @ Ottawa
Most goals, game: Scored: 10, (11/2/05, 10-4 win); Allowed: 12, (10/30/92, 12-3 loss); Both teams: 15, (10/30/92, 12-3 loss)
Last Game: Jan. 1, 3-1 win @ Ottawa; OTT Goals: Stützle (x2), Lucchini; BUF Goal: Girgensons; OTT Scratches: None; OTT
Injuries: Brannstrom, Chartier, Joseph, Motte, Norris, Zaitsev; OTT Goalie: Forsberg; BUF Goalie: Anderson; OTT PP: 1-1; BUF PP: 0-3; Shots: 33-34.
Career vs. Buffalo: Giroux leads all players in career games played (52), in goals (15), in assists (35) and in points (50); Watson leads in penalty minutes (27) against Buffalo.
SWEATER WEATHER: The Senators enter their third season of wearing a primary logo which sees the organization return to its roots with the implementation of the modified original “2D” logo. The team has earned a 90-101-18 all-time record (35-34-7 this season) while wearing its current sweater. Ottawa unveiled their Reverse Retro jersey on Oct. 20 and wore the sweater on five occasions in 2022-23 (4-1-0 this season). The Senators hold an all-time record of 116-76-7-25 when wearing an alternate; 27-19-2-5 when wearing a red alternate, 88-56-5-19 when wearing a black alternate and 1-1-0-1 when wearing a cream alternate.
ROAD SCHOLARS: The Senators have a record of 15-21-4 on the road this season … Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk lead with 15 goals on the road this season while Tkachuk ranks first with 20 assists while the Senators serve as visitors … Through 40 road games this season, Tkachuk maintains the club lead with 35 points … The Senators registered an 18-20-3 record over 41 road contests in 2021-22.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES: Ottawa played back-to-back games on 12 occasions in 2022-23 and closed its final set with a 4-3 overtime loss at Columbus on April 2 … The Senators played 17 back-to-back sets last season and earned a record of 6-9-2 in the first half of contests on consecutive nights (7-5-0 this season) while posting an 8-8-1 record (6-5-1 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY: The Senators are 71 for 303 (23.4%) on the power-play in 2022-23 … Drake Batherson leads with 14 powerplay goals while Alex DeBrincat maintains the club lead with 30 points while the team enjoys a man advantage … Ottawa has recorded multiple power-play goals 18 times in an individual contest in 2022-23 after having done so 11 times in 2021-22.
ON THE PENALTY KILL: Ottawa has overcome 234 of the 292 occasions the team has been shorthanded in 2022-23 to maintain an efficiency of 80.1% through 81 regular-season games … The team has registered nine (Stützle x3, Watson x3, Joseph x2, Motte) shorthanded markers this season after recording nine such goals in 2021-22.
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Tuesday, April 11
Buffalo 2 at New Jersey 6
Goals: Skinner, Samuelsson
Goalie: Levi (24 saves/28 shots; 2 ENG)
PP: 0/2; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 38 – New Jersey 30
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 147)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Craig Anderson (upper body, March 31) – 7 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, April 14: Buffalo at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SENATORS AT SABRES
• This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Senators this season.
• Last meeting: Ottawa defeated Buffalo 3-1 in Ottawa on Jan. 1.
• The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games against Ottawa; 6-3-1 at home.
• This is the 152nd game all-time between Buffalo and Ottawa; Buffalo has an 72-59-20 series record.
• The Sabres are 40-25-8 at home against the Senators all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• A win in tonight’s game would mark the 15th time the Sabres have earned 41 or more wins in a single season.
• Each of the last 15 games between Buffalo and Ottawa have been decided in regulation.
• The last nine matchups in Buffalo between the two clubs have also been decided in regulation.
• Alex Tuch has notched 22 points (11+11) in his last 20 games, including 12 points (5+7) in his last 10 games.
• With an assist in tonight’s game Tuch would match the longest assist streak of his career (five games).
• In his last nine games, Casey Mittelstadt has recorded 13 points (3+10).
• Mittelstadt is riding a four-game point streak (3+3) and a point in tonight’s game would give him his second point streak of five or more games in his career.
• Since March 25 (nine games), Mittelstadt leads all Sabres skaters in assists (10) and points (13).
• Rasmus Dahlin has registered seven points (1+6) in his last seven games.
BACK-TO-BACK
• Today’s game opens Buffalo’s 15th and final back-to-back set of the season, which concludes with a road matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow night. The Sabres are 8-5-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 5-8-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (5), three points (0), two points (3), one point (2) and zero points (4).
