With the weather as lovely as it is, many of the Sabres' Clarence-based players stayed home this morning rather than head downtown. Nathan Gerbe and Andrej Sekera were on the ice in full equipment and Steve Montador and Drew Stafford were on in sweats. That was about it.
The new-look Ottawa Senators hit town with a lineup filled with players from Binghamton of the AHL and are joined today by waiver pickup Marek Svatos, claimed from Nashville. Goaltender Craig Anderson, acquired from Colorado for Brian Elliott, has stopped 70 of 71 shots in the two games since he's been acquired.
Center Corey Locke and winger Roman Wick were recalled today from Binghamton, and will play tonight for the Senators. Locke, who has one point in three games earlier this season, leads the AHL in scoring with 72 points in 51 games (18-54-72). Meanwhile, Svatos and Wick become the 11th and 12th players to make his NHL debut with Ottawa this year.
The Sens are trying for their first three-game winning streak since November. They are 3-1-1 in their last five after an horrendous 1-13-4 skid that prompted the breakup of the club.
The Sabres won all three meetings this year in Ottawa while the Senators won here on Oct. 22. In fact, the last eight meetings have been won by the visiting team. Odd. With the lack of players on hand, no idea if Lindy Ruff makes changes to the lineup.
Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Neil, Pascal LeClaire and Sergei Gonchar are all out for Ottawa with injuries. Elliott, Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Jarkko Ruutu, Alex Kovalev are among those who have been traded. Here's Lindy Ruff's chat with reporters this morning with plenty of talk about the Senators.
Lindy Ruff
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
