Buffalo Sabres – Ottawa Senators Game Preview
1/9/25 – 7:00 pm EST at Canadian Tire Centre, Kanata, ON
Record
Buffalo – 15-21-5 | 35 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Ottawa – 19-17-3 | 41 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 18.3% (24th)
Penalty Kill – 77.3% (24th)
Ottawa
Power Play – 24.6% (7th)
Penalty Kill – 76.6% (24th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 36 GP, 19 G, 15 A, 34 PTS
Jason Zucker: 41 GP, 15 G, 16 A, 31 PTS
Alex Tuch: 41 GP, 14 G, 16 A, 30 PTS
Ottawa
Tim Stutzle: 39 GP, 12 G, 29 A, 41 PTS
Brady Tkachuk: 39 GP, 18 G, 20 A, 38 PTS
Drake Batherson: 39 GP, 13 G, 23 A, 36 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (12-12-4, 3.05 GAA, .894 save %)
Ottawa – Anton Forsberg (4-7-1, 3.03 GAA, .888 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Buffalo
Forwards
Jason Zucker – Dylan Cozens - Tage Thompson
JJ Peterka - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Tyson Kozak - Sam Lafferty
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Connor Clifton
Mattias Samuelsson - Henri Jokiharju
Ex.: Jacob Bryson , Dennis Gilbert
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR - middle body)
Beck Malenstyn (day-to-day – illness)
Jiri Kulich (out – lower body)
Notes
The Sabres have earned a win in four of their last six games against the Senators (4-2-0). The victorious team has scored at least five goals in each of the last five matchups between the Sabres and the Senators. Buffalo has recorded at least one power-play goal in each of its last three games.
In his last eight games, Jason Zucker has recorded 10 points (7+3).
Tage Thompson has posted nine points (3+6) in his last seven games, including six points (1+5) in his last four road contests. In his last six games against the Senators, Thompson has notched nine points (7+2), including at least one goal in five of the games in that span. Thompson (twice) and Donald Audette (twice) are the only two Buffalo skaters who have recorded seven goals in any six-game span against the Senators. A goal in tonight’s game would make Thompson the first Sabres skater to record eight goals in a seven-game span against Ottawa since Audette did so from Dec. 8, 1993 to Nov. 19, 1995
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 10 assists in his last seven games, including one assist in three consecutive games. An assist in tonight’s game would give Dahlin his longest assist streak of the season.
JJ Peterka has posted 12 points (2+10) in his last 11 games, including at least one assist in his last three games. Peterka has registered at least one goal in each of his last three games against the Senators and he has recorded five points in that span (4+1). A goal in tonight’s game would make Peterka the fourth Sabres skater all-time to record a goal streak of four or more games against the Senators (Tyler Ennis, four games; Pat LaFontaine, four games and six games; Tage Thompson, four games).
Alex Tuch has tallied one assist in back-to-back games against Ottawa.
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