The Ottawa Senators look to get back on track and avoid their fifth-straight loss against the rival Buffalo Sabres.
Ryan Miller and Sabres will not need to worry about facing Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who will miss his fourth straight contest because of a concussion.
“We’re without our captain, one of our better players,” first-year coach Paul MacLean told the Senators’ official website. “So we’re going to have to recover from that and continue to play without him until he’s symptom free and he’s able to get back into the lineup.”
The Senators (7-7-0) have dropped two straight following a six-game winning streak.
Zack Smith scored a short-handed goal Friday to provide the team’s only offense in a 2-1 home loss to Montreal. Ottawa had scored at least three times in each of its previous seven games.
Fantasy notes: Ville Leino had 53 points last season, but has only two to his name headed into this Saturday night match-up. Last year against the Sabres, Jason Spezza racked up 3-3-6 in three starts. | Follow Chris Nichols on Twitter
The Senators entered Friday’s contest converting on a league-best 28.9 percent of their power-play chances but went 0 for 4 with the man advantage against the Canadiens.
“We had a lot of good looks,” center Jason Spezza said. “The only thing we’re disappointed with in the power play is not getting the results.”
Spezza leads the Senators with 15 points but has been held without one during his last three games. He has three goals and three assists in his last two versus Buffalo.
After concluding a disappointing homestand on a positive note, the Buffalo Sabres have a good chance to begin a run in the right direction.
Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe each scored while backup Jhonas Enroth made 29 saves to help Buffalo (7-5-0) beat Calgary 2-1 on Friday, avoiding a third straight loss and salvaging a 2-3-0 homestand.
“It was really nice, and we’re back on track now,” Enroth said.
The Sabres were active enough in the offensive zone Friday to record a season-high 44 shots.
“With the way things have gone, we needed a big win like this,” said Stafford, who snapped a seven-game goal-scoring drought and has two assists in his last two meetings with Ottawa. “We were going through a little bit of a rough patch, some tough games, and not necessarily playing a full 60 minutes. But I thought that was a little bit different (Friday).”
The Sabres will return home for two more games after they also try for their fifth consecutive victory at Ottawa. Buffalo, which will play a league-high 21 sets of back-to-back games this season, has won its last two contests when playing for the second consecutive night.
After getting the night off against the Flames, Buffalo starter Ryan Miller may be back in net trying for a fourth straight victory over the Senators. Miller, who was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period of a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, has posted a 1.64 goals-against average while winning five of his last six starts versus Ottawa.
