Senators at Sabres
THE STORY: The Buffalo Sabres will look to stop a two-game skid Saturday when they host the Northeast Division rival Ottawa Senators. After dropping the first two contests, the Senators have won the last two encounters of the six-game season series. Both teams have a home and road win. Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson has collected a goal and three assists in the series and center Jason Spezza has collected four assists. The Sabres have been led by Derek Roy, who has recorded two goals and three assists in the four meetings. Drew Stafford has added five assists. Former Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller has struggled this season, posting a 9-10-2 with one shutout. Both teams are currently out of the playoff picture - the Senators are in ninth and the Sabres 11th in the Eastern Conference.
TV: 7 p.m. ET. CBC, MSG-Buffalo
ABOUT THE SENATORS (18-15-5): Ottawa erased a 3-0 deficit on Friday en route to a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Calgary Flames. Captain Daniel Alfredsson scored his 400th NHL goal in the extra period. Nick Foligno, Zack Smith and Karlsson also scored in the comeback win. Craig Anderson made 17 saves after replacing Alex Auld after the first period. Ottawa is 7-7-4 on the road this season and 5-3-2 in its last 10 games.
ABOUT THE SABRES (17-17-3): Buffalo was torched for two goals by Alex Ovechkin Friday in its 3-1 road loss to the Washington Capitals. Jochen Hecht scored the lone goal and Miller made 18 saves in the loss. The Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and 9-9-3 on home ice this season. The situation for the injury-plagued Sabres got a little worse Friday, as they lost defenseman Christian Ehroff for an extended period. The offseason acquisition was injured after a first period fight with Troy Brouwer.
OVERTIME:
1. With a recent surge in fan voting, Spezza has surpassed Sidney Crosby to join Alfredsson in the top three forward spots. Karlsson leads all defensemen in voting, and is second to Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs in overall votes received.
2. Thomas Vanek continues to have a strong season for Buffalo. He is ranked eighth in goal scoring with 18 and ninth in points with 39.
3. It’s almost middle of the road across the special teams board for both Ottawa and Buffalo - with the exception of the Senators' 26th-ranked penalty kill percentage at 79.2.