BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Monday, Oct. 23
Buffalo 1 vs. Montreal 3
Goals: Skinner
Goalie: Comrie (24 saves/27 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 2/3; Shots: Buffalo 37 – Montreal 27
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 15)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Jack Quinn (Achilles, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 6 games
Devon Levi (lower body, Oct. 21) – 2 games
Zach Benson (lower body, Oct. 21) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/22: Assigned forward Matt Savoie to Rochester (AHL) on a conditioning loan
UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Oct. 27: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 29: Buffalo vs. Colorado, 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 1: Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 3: Buffalo vs. Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 4: Buffalo at Toronto, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at SENATORS
- This is the first of four meetings between the Sabres and Senators this season.
- Next meeting: Sunday, Dec. 31 in Ottawa.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Ottawa 4-3 in overtime in Buffalo on April 13, 2023.
- The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games against the Senators; 2-7-1 on the road.
- This is the 153rd game all-time between Buffalo and Ottawa; Buffalo has a 73-59-20 series record.
- The Sabres are 32-34-12 on the road against the Senators all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres and Senators each won two games of the four-game series between the two clubs in 2022-23.
- Dylan Cozens has registered at least one point in four consecutive games (2+3) and a point in tonight’s game would give him his first point streak of five or more games since recorded a point in five straight games from Nov. 28 to Dec. 7, 2022 (5+7).
- A five-game point streak would match the longest point streak of his career.
- Rasmus Dahlin is riding a five-game point streak and a point in tonight’s game would give him a six-game point streak for the first time since he notched at least one point in six consecutive games from Oct. 13 to 25, 2022.
- A six-game point streak would match the longest point streak of his career. The only other instance of Dahlin recording a point in six consecutive games came from Feb. 9 to 22, 2020.
- With an assist in tonight’s game, Dahlin would achieve the longest assist streak of his career (six games).
- Jeff Skinner has recorded one goal in consecutive games and a goal in tonight’s game would give him his first goal streak of three or more games since he tallied at least one goal in three straight games from Dec. 17 to 29, 2022.
- A point in tonight’s game would give Skinner his first point streak of three or more games since he notched at least one point in three consecutive games from April 11 to 14, 2023 (2+5).
- Kyle Okposo leads all current Sabres skaters in career goals (12), assists (15) and points (27) against the Senators.
LICENSE TO KILL
- Following Buffalo’s game last night, the Sabres were ranked seventh among all NHL teams in penalty kill percentage (90.9).
- Buffalo’s highest penalty kill percentage in a single season came in 2000-01 (88.0).
- Buffalo has successfully killed 20 of the 22 power plays they have faced in 2023-24.
- The Sabres were one of 9 teams who had allowed two or fewer power-play goals following Buffalo’s game on Oct. 23.
- Of those teams, Buffalo ranked first in penalty kill opportunities (22).
- Erik Johnson leads all Sabres skaters in time on ice in shorthanded situations (22:42).
- Johnson also leads all Sabres skaters in blocked shots in shorthanded situations (5).
OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: Oct. 21, 5-2 loss vs. Detroit: Veleno scored twice for the first time in his NHL career while Larkin contributed a game-high three points (one goal, two assists) as the pair combined to lead Detroit to a 5-2 win over the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. The Red Wings’ victory brought an end to the team’s five-game losing streak in Ottawa. Gostisbehere and Perron also scored for Detroit while Sanderson and Greig opened and closed the afternoon’s scoring in accounting for the home side’s two goals, respectively. Husso made 36 saves to earn his first career win in goal against the Senators. Korpisalo turned aside 18 shots in incurring the loss for Ottawa. Scratches: None; Injuries: Zub; Shots: OTT – 37, DET – 23; PP: OTT – 1-6, DET – 3-5.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Tonight’s game against Buffalo will be broadcast regionally on TSN5 and on RDS2. On the radio, the game will be available locally via TSN 1200 (English) and 94,5 Unique-FM (French).
WHAT’S NEXT: Ottawa returns to the road when the team visits the Islanders at Elmont, N.Y.’s UBS Arena on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The contest will mark the first of three meetings between the teams this season and the first of two contests on Long Island.
INJURY REPORT: Defenceman Artem Zub left last Wednesday’s game versus Washington with an upper-body injury and is doubtful to oppose Buffalo this evening. Total man-games lost: 5.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Recalled defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker from Belleville (AHL) under emergency conditions on Oct. 23.
OTTAWA vs. BUFFALO – History:
2023-24 (0-0-0): Oct. 24 @ Ottawa, Dec. 31 @ Ottawa, Jan. 11 @ Buffalo, March 27 @ Buffalo
2022-23 (2-1-1): 10/13/22 @ Buffalo (4-1 loss), 11/16/22 @ Ottawa (4-1 win), 1/1/23 @ Ottawa (3-1
win), 4/13/23 @ Buffalo (4-3 OT loss)
Series record: Overall: 69-57-10-16, Home: 39-23-7-9, Away: 30-34-3-7
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: 1/1/23 (3-1); @ Buffalo: 2/17/22 (3-1)
Last Buffalo win: @ Ottawa: 1/18/22 (3-1); @ Buffalo: 4/13/23 (4-3 OT)
Last OT result: 4/13/23 (4-3 OT loss) @ Buffalo
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: 4/13/23, 4-3 OT loss @ Buffalo: OTT Goals: Stützle, Gambrell, Giroux; BUF Goals: Jokiharju, Olofsson, Thompson, Mittelstadt (OT); OTT Scratches: None; OTT Injuries: Brassard, Chabot, Chychrun, Forsberg, Hamonic, Joseph, Kelly, Norris, Watson; OTT Goalie: Sogaard; BUF Goalie: Anderson; OTT PP: 1-3; BUF PP: 1-4; Shots: 33-36.
Career vs. Buffalo: Giroux leads all players in career games played (53), in goals (16), in assists (35), in points (51) and is tied with Hamonic in penalty minutes (20) against Buffalo.
SWEATER WEATHER: The Senators are in the midst of a fourth season of wearing a primary logo which saw the organization return to its roots with the implementation of the modified original “2D” logo ahead of the 2020-21 campaign. The team has earned a 91-102-19 all-time record (3-2-0 this season) while wearing its current sweater. Ottawa is not expected to wear an alternate sweater in 2023-24. 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.
HOME ON THE RANGE: Ottawa has posted a record of 3-1-0 at home this season … Brady Tkachuk leads the team with four goals at home … Claude Giroux, Tim Stützle and Vladimir Tarasenko share the assist lead with four each at Canadian Tire Centre … Sanderson (three goals, three assists), Tarasenko (two goals, four assists) and Tkachuk (four goals, two assists) are tied for the team’s scoring lead in Ottawa with six points, respectively … The Senators earned a record of 24-14-3 at home in 2022-23.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES: The Senators will play back-to-back games on 14 occasions in 2023-24 with the next set scheduled to begin when the team visits Toronto on Nov. 8 before it hosts Vancouver for the only time this season the following evening … The Senators played 12 back-to-back sets last season and earned a record of 7-5-0 in the first half of contests on consecutive nights (1-0-0 this season) while posting an 6-5-1 record (1-0-0 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY: The Senators are 5 for 22 (22.7%) on the power-play in 2023-24 … Jake Sanderson leads the team with two power-play goals and with three power-play points … Ottawa has tallied multiple power-play goals in an individual contest on one occasion this season after having done so on 18 occasions in 2022-23 … The Senators were 72-for-306 (23.5%) on the power play in 2022-23. ON THE PENALTY KILL: Ottawa has allowed five power-play goals this season while having overcome 16 of 21 shorthanded situations to maintain an efficiency rating of 76.2% … Parker Kelly’s first shorthanded goal of his career, scored in the Oct. 11 season-opener at Carolina, is the team’s lone shorthanded tally of 2023-24 after it notched nine such markers in each of the past two seasons.
