Two teams looking to turn a corner on their respective seasons square off when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The Sabres, seventh in the Atlantic Division, arrive in Ottawa fresh off a 3-2 overtime win against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, ending a two-game skid. Buffalo trailed by a goal twice in the contest, including 2-1 after two periods.
Buffalo coach Don Granato was absent on Saturday because of an illness. Seth Appert, coach of the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, filled in for Granato and will be behind the bench again against the Senators.
“It’s easy sometimes during adversity, when you’re playing good and getting chances but you’re down, to get frustrated,” Appert said. “That’s natural. But I really liked the way we were playing. … We were grinding, and we were wearing them down. I thought that if we stayed with it that we were going to get the results. Obviously, credit to the guys. They did.”
The Sabres will shoot for their second winning streak of the season, which would match a two-game run on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1. They were 9-13-4 since then prior to the Saturday win, including a 2-4-1 stretch in their previous seven games.
Buffalo also will look for results on the power play, which is 2-for-30 in the past 11 games after managing just one shot on goal on one unsuccessful opportunity against Columbus.
Looking for a spark, Granato tweaked his power-play units in practice on Friday. With the second unit proving to be more efficient, he moved defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to that group (Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka and Zach Benson) and plans to use them more often. Defenseman Owen Power moved to the other unit, joining Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch and Casey Mittelstadt.
Quinn has looked in midseason form despite having only played five games since returning from an offseason Achilles injury. He was reunited with Cozens and Peterka in his second game, a trio that excelled last season and has looked just as good since Quinn’s return. The 22-year-old scored his third goal of the season on Saturday — all in the past four games.
“He’s so dynamic,” Skinner said. “I think that line is pretty special together. I think they have some great chemistry. I think we missed him when he was out. It’s nice see him get back in and not really miss a beat.”
The Senators enter the tilt looking to rebound following a 6-2 loss to the visiting New Jersey Devils on Friday. It was Ottawa’s seventh loss in the past nine games, all in regulation, and the result snapped a two-game winning streak.
Ottawa sits in last place in the Atlantic Division and in the Eastern Conference.
“I’ve tried to get (the players) to think in terms of progress, not really focus on the end result,” Senators interim coach Jacques Martin said. “It’s important for us to focus on our game, our system, our execution, make sure we’re in the right frame of mind and let the results take care of themselves.”
Goaltending has been an issue for Ottawa. Joonas Korpisalo has a 3.66 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage after allowing six goals on 30 shots against the Devils. Anton Forsberg has a 3.29 GAA and an .877 save percentage.
But while the netminders have struggled, they haven’t gotten much help from their teammates.
“It’s about how you play in front of them,” Martin said. “I think they’re good goalies. It’s our job as coaches to get the team to play better in front of them, to cut down on the number of A-chances from the slot area and try to get more of the shots to come from the outside.”
–Field Level Media
