Make sure to follow Travis on Twitter!
--
Looking up at the division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres will clash at First Niagara Center on Friday night in a pivotal Northeast division match-up.
Both teams are trying to cure recent ails. Ottawa's dropped the last four games without Daniel Alfredsson in the lineup, so the team is hoping his return from a concussion courtesy of one Wojtek Wolski elbow will help to end an lengthy slide. And Buffalo? Well, the Sabres really haven't endeared themselves to the home crowd, with a 4-4-0 record through eight games in their barn.
With points already imperative here in November, Lindy Ruff's going to continue riding the hot-hand in the crease. Yes, that means back-up Jhonas Enroth will see the ice tonight, while the highly-paid #1 in Ryan Miller watches from the sidelines. Enroth hasn't lost a game yet this season, posting a 4-0-0 record through five games played, with a .952 save percentage and 1.41 GAA.
Ottawa's expected to counter with Craig Anderson, who is coming off a tough loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday. The defense has really hurt Anderson's numbers(.886 save pct., 3.47 GAA) this year, but he's still 6-5-1 in fourteen appearances.
On both ends of the ice, lineup changes are expected. Don't expect to see Chris Neil - along with the usuals in Matt Carkner and Peter Regin - tonight, all of whom are battling various injuries. Jochen Hecht and Tyler Ennis are out, too, with Ville Leino questionable(
For Ottawa, it's the first of a six-game road trip. The team gets a brief reprieve on November 27th at home, then heads out for another multi-game vacation away from Scotiabank Place. So, it's probably imperative that they get off to a solid start early here on the road, especially with points expected to be few and far between later on in November.
Puck drops at 7:30 PM ET on Sportsnet East.
Ottawa Senators
Greening-Spezza-Michalek
Foligno-DaCosta-Alfredsson
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Konopka-Winchester-Butler
Kuba-Karlsson
Phillips-Rundblad
Cowen-Gonchar
Buffalo Sabres - subject to change
Vanek-Adam-Pominville
Leino-Roy-Stafford
Gerbe-Gaustad-Boyes
McCormick-Ellis-Tropp
Myers-Sekera
Leopold-Regehr
Gragnani-Ehrhoff
--
Thanks for reading!
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Senators Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Sens-related on HockeyBuzz. Content is automatically updated whenever a new blog is published. For more information,
click here.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»