It's a battle of two clubs who are both about to add to their franchise-record Stanley Cup Playoff droughts.
The Matchup: Ottawa Senators (30-36-4) at Buffalo Sabres (34-33-5)
Faceoff: 7pm (SN, RDS)
What's up: While Ottawa Senators fans remain grumpy about a seventh straight season without the playoffs, that's a walk in the park for Buffalo Sabres fans. Their team is about to miss the playoffs for a 13th straight season, which would break the all-time NHL record – a record their team set last year.
The Sabres aren't officially eliminated from the post-season, of course. But they're a huge long shot, standing four teams and 8 points out with just 10 games to play. The Senators, who've won their last two games, wouldn't mind driving another nail in their division rival's playoff coffin.
Both teams have seen a drop off in production from their top scorers and number-one centres last season. Tim Stutzle had 90 points last year, and with 68 points this year, he'll need a big finish just to hit 80. But that's nothing compared to Tage Thompson in Buffalo. In fairness, he missed 11 games, but Thompson stands with 45 points in 61 games, way off his 94-point campaign last year.
The Mighty Quinn: Buffalo gets some great news with the expected return of winger Jack Quinn, who's only played in 17 games this season. Hopefully, the Ottawa native now gets a good long run of injury-free hockey. The 22-year-old had established himself as a top-six NHL forward, but then suffered an achilles injury while training last summer.
Quinn finally got back in December and didn't miss a beat, scoring 12 points in 17 games while also crushing it on the Sabres' penalty killing unit. The injury bug struck again in late January when he suffered a lower-body injury in a game against the San Jose Sharks.
The season series: Buffalo is 2-1 against the Senators this season. Ottawa's lone victory was a 5-1 New Year's Eve beatdown, with Anton Forsberg having one of his best games in a Sens uniform, making 45 saves. The victory was Jacques Martin's 1300th game as an NHL head coach – only 15 men have coached more.
Senators projected lineup
The Senators will roll out the same lineup they used in a 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers. While the Sens got the victory, they hope to balance out the shot counter a little after the Oilers held the 36-16 edge on Sunday night.
Angus Crookshank -- Tim Stutzle -- Claude Giroux
Brady Tkachuk -- Shane Pinto -- Drake Batherson
Dominik Kubalik -- Ridly Greig -- Mathieu Joseph
Boris Katchouk -- Mark Kastelic -- Parker Kelly
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Erik Brannstrom
Jakob Chychrun -- Jacob Bernard-Docker
Joonas Korpisalo
Anton Forsberg
Sabres projected lineup
Jordan Greenway -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka -- Dylan Cozens -- Jack Quinn
Jeff Skinner -- Peyton Krebs -- Zach Benson
Zemgus Girgensons --Tyson Jost -- Victor Olofsson
Bowen Byram -- Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power -- Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson -- Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Devon Levi