Ottawa (6-10-1) at Buffalo (9-6-3)
Saturday, 7 p.m., KeyBank Center, Sportsnet One, TSN 1200 AM, Unique 94.5 FM
THE BIG MATCHUP
Colin White vs. Jack Eichel
The Senators’ centre tried to play through a groin/hip flexor injury and had a hard time making an impact. After being out of the lineup for three weeks, White is back, skating much better, and he appears to be ready to contribute on a consistent basis. The Senators need that from White, but the Sabres need Eichel to step up. He has only two points in the club’s last five games and both of those came last weekend in one game.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Keep the Sabres down
The Sabres are coming off a 5-4 OT loss to Carolina on Thursday at home. The club is winless in five and hasn’t won since a 2-0 decision over Detroit on Oct. 25. Buffalo is back home after facing the Tampa Bay Lightning last weekend in back-to-back games in Sweden. We all know what happened to Ottawa in 2017 after the club’s trip to Sweden.
2. Get the power play going
Really, these things are cyclical and you have to think that, at some point, the Senators are going to break out and start scoring with the man advantage on a consistent basis. The talent is there to score goals because we’ve seen it 5-on-5. A key to all of this is to get Thomas Chabot going offensively.
3. Go back to Craig Anderson
Given the fact this is a back-to-back, you can expect to see Craig Anderson against the Sabres after Anders Nilsson started Friday. Thought he was pulled in the club’s 8-2 loss to the Hurricanes on the road Monday, Nilsson had been the NHL’s player of the week and he deserved the chance to try to get back to that form against the Flyers.
4. Back-to-back challenge
This will be the club’s second set of back-to-back games. Last year, the Senators went 6-10-0 in the first game of the series and 4-10-2 in the second. The Senators will play four sets of back-to-backs this month, so it’s going to be a challenge. The next one comes up quickly as they face Detroit on the road Tuesday and then are in Montreal on Wednesday night.
5. Keep Pageau rolling
Jean-Gabriel Pageau went into Friday’s game against the Flyers with eight goals in the club’s last six games, including his first career regular-season a hat trick Wednesday against the Devils. He has been a force to be reckoned with and has been a big reason this team has been able to pick up some victories during a difficult schedule.
SPECIAL TEAMS
OTT: PP 6.5% (31st); PK 80.3% (18th)
BUF: PP 23.7% (8th); PK 74.5& (26th)
Senators’ forward lines
Brady Tkachuk-Logan Brown-Anthony Duclair
Nick Paul-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Connor Brown
Filip Chlapik-Colin White-Tyler Ennis
Vladislav Namestnikov-Chris Tierney-Bobby Ryan
Defence
Thomas Chabot-Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom-Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki-Dylan DeMelo
Goaltenders
Craig Anderson
Anders Nilsson
Sabres’ forward lines
Victor Olofsson-Jack Eichel-Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner-Evan Rodrigues-Connor Sheary
Zemgus Girgensons-Rasmus Asplund-Kyle Okposo
Jimmy Vesey-Casey Mittelstadt-Curtis Lazar
Defence
Jake McCabe-Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin-Colin Miller
Marco Scandella-Henri Jokiharju
Goaltenders
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
INJURIES
OTT: Artem Anisimov, Scott Sabourin
BUF: Matt Hunwick, Zach Bogosian, Vladimir Sobotka, Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson
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