As if things weren't bad enough in Senatorsland, Bobby Ryan left practice early today and it was apparently significant enough to shuffle the lines during the morning skate instead of just inserting supposed scratch Jean-Gabriel Pageau into Ryan's spot in practice.
After Ryan left, the lines looked like:
MacArthur - Zibanejad - Michalek Lazar - Turris - Stone Hoffman - Pageau - Chiasson Condra - Legwand - Neil
and get ready for everyone's favorite defensive pair as the blueline stacks up like
Methot - Karlsson Cowen - Gryba Borowiecki - Wiercioch
as Chris Phillips will be joined in the press box by Cody Ceci in a surprising turn.
As the Senators sit just as many points ahead of tonight's opponent (Buffalo) in last place as they do from the final playoff spot (14 points), this could be a sign that the Senators are ready to ease off the throttle just a little bit, especially in sitting Ceci, who has suited up in every game this season.
Robin Lehner will get the start again as the team looks to do something positive in the absence of Craig Anderson. Much was made of Lehner's outward show of emotion (meaning frustration) following the 4th goal in the dying seconds against Columbus, and the coach said he addressed it right after the game. However, not much was made of Erik Karlsson, the captain, giving the post a wicked two-hand chop following the empty netter about a minute earlier. That was an equally overt display of emotion coming from the guy who needs to set the tone. The whole team is obviously visibly frustrated at the way the season has gone, but if you are going to chastise one player for showing it publicly, you can't give 65 a pass for the same thing.
As for the Sabres, imagine just how low they would be if they hadn't won 10 of 13 games from mid-November to Mid-December. Their record this season excluding that stretch is 6-32-3, which over a full season would approach the depths of the 1992-93 expansion Senators.
The Senators have scored just once in each of their last 3 games, and need to get the power play, on an 0 for 15 run, going, and get Lehner some goal support. If it is going to happen against any team, it should be the Sabres.