The Buffalo Sabres face the Ottawa Senators with both teams looking to improve from difficult starts to the season. The Sabres have a 7-9 record and have a six-game losing streak while the Senators have a 5-9-1 record and with only two wins in the last 10 games, have fallen into last place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to climb out from the bottom of the division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game looks to be a good one as a result.
The Sabres have looked promising this season with an offense that averages 3.67 goals per game. Tage Thompson has scored 11 goals and 10 assists while Alex Tuch and Jeff Skinner have added 13 goals and 21 assists to the top two lines but the entire offense has looked great this season. Victor Olofsson, Dylan Cozens, and Kyle Okposo have combined for 14 goals and 16 assists while defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power have added 17 goals and nine assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has looked great but the defense has let the Sabres down this year, allowing 3.47 goals per game including 19 goals in the last four games. While Dahlin and Power have combined for 1.9 defensive point shares and 50 blocked shots, the rest of the unit has been awful, allowing opponents to generate shots on the net at will. Furthermore, with the team playing the second game of a back-to-back, they wil l likely turn to goaltender Eric Comrie to start the upcoming game who has struggled this year with a .885 save percentage and a 3.62 goals-against average on 312 shots.