Buffalo Sabres - Ottawa Senators Game Preview
12/23/25 - 7:00pm at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON
Buffalo – 17-14-4 | - 38 points – 7th place in the Atlantic Division
Ottawa – 18-13-4 | - 40 points – 6th place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 20.4% (15th)
Penalty Kill – 85.0% (2nd)
Ottawa
Power Play – 25.9% (5th)
Penalty Kill - 71.4% (31st)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 35 GP, 18 G, 14 A, 32 PTS
Alex Tuch: 34 GP, 11 G, 18 A, 29 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 32 GP, 4 G, 24 A, 28 PTS
Ottawa
Tim Stűtzle: 35 GP, 17 G, 21 A, 38 PTS
Drake Batherson: 32 GP, 14 G, 21 A, 35 PTS
Dylan Cozens: 35 GP, 11 G, 16 A, 27 PTS
Starting Goalies(projected)
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (8-6-3, 2.92 GAA, .906 Sv %)
Ottawa – Linus Ullmark (14-8-4, 2.85 GAA, .884 Sv%)
Other Sabres Stories
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Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (projected)
Forwards
Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan
Zach Benson - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Noah Ostlund - Josh Norris - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Beck Malenstyn - Tyson Kozak
Ex. Josh Dunne
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Bowen Byram - Michael Kesselring
Jacob Bryson - Owen Power
Ex. Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve)
Jason Zucker (lower body, Dec 10; injured reserve)
Colten Ellis (concussion protocol, Dec 11: injured reserve)
Conor Timmins (lower body, Dec 19: injured reserve)
Notes
The Sabres are riding a six-game winning streak and a win tonight would mark the longest winning streak by Buffalo since the team’s 10-game winning streak from Nov. 8 to 27, 2018. Buffalo has earned 14 winning streaks of sevens or more games in franchise history, including four since the 2004-05 lockout. Buffalo has earned five consecutive wins over Ottawa and a win in tonight’s game would match the longest winning streak by a Sabres team against the Senators in franchise history (thrice). The Sabres last emerged victorious in six consecutive contests against the Senators from Dec. 4, 2010 to Nov. 11, 2011.
Buffalo has won eight of its last 10 games against Ottawa, including two straight road wins against the Senators.
A win tonight would mark the first time the Sabres have earned three or more straight road wins against the Senators since the team’s three-game road winning streak in Ottawa from Nov. 5, 2016 to Feb. 14, 2017. The Sabres have recorded at least one power-play goal in eight of their last 10 games dating back to Dec. 1 at Winnipeg. Since Dec. 1 and entering play on Monday, Buffalo ranked fourth among all NHL teams in power-play goals (10) and eight in power-play percentage (27.8).
Tage Thompson has recorded 11 points (6+5) in his last 10 games, including at least one point in seven consecutive games. With a point in tonight’s game, Thompson would match the longest point streak of his career (8 games; Oct 12 to Nov. 1, 2024; 6+6).
Alex Lyon has made 134 saves on 145 shots in his last five appearances (.924).
Josh Norris has collected 10 points (4+6) in his last eight games. Norris has recorded at least one point in each of the five road games he has appeared in this season (1+5).
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 12 points (3+9) in his last 10 games, including one point in three straight contests (1+2). A point tonight would give Dahlin his fourth four-game point streak of 2025-26.
Zach Benson has notched five points (3+2) in his last five games. If Benson appears in each of Buffalo’s next two games, he would become the youngest Sabres skater (20 years, 229 days) to play in 170 games with Buffalo.
Peyton Krebs has tallied one point in back-to-back games (1+1) and a point tonight would give him his second point streak of three or more games of his career (5 games; March 25 to April 1, 2025; 3+3).
Owen Power is one assist away from 100 in his career and if he reaches that mark tonight, he will become the 19th defenseman in franchise history to do so with the Sabres
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