Divisional rivals face off as Senators host Sabres

SABRES (7-5-0) at SENATORS (7-7-0)

Last 10: Buffalo 5-5-0; Ottawa 6-4-0

Season Series: First of six meetings between these Northeast Division rivals. The Sabres went 5-1 against the Senators last season, with 12 different players scoring at least one goal. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson led all scorers with 3 goals, with the Ottawa captain recording the hat trick in his team's only win of the series. He reached 1,000 career points in the process.

Big Story: Both teams enter play Saturday with 14 points, five behind Toronto for the lead in both the division and the Eastern Conference. Both were in action Friday night and had their games decided by 2-1 scores, though the results differed. Buffalo came out on the winning end, while Ottawa dropped its second in a row.

Team Scope:

Sabres: Jhonas Enroth played a key role down the stretch last season in helping Buffalo make the playoffs when Ryan Miller battled injuries, and he's making a bid for more playing time this season by taking every advantage of the opportunities he's been given. Enroth improved to 3-0 with a 1.29 goals-against average and .958 save percentage after stopping 29 shots against visiting Calgary. The Sabres, who had lost four of five, got goals from Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe.

"We finally got a win here, and everyone can stop talking that we can't win here," Enroth said about the fact the team is only 3-4-0 at HSBC Arena. "It was really nice, and we're back on track now."

Senators: It's been a streaky start to the season for Ottawa, which wants to avoid letting this current one resemble the 1-5-0 stretch on which it began. The Senators then won six in a row to challenge the Maple Leafs for the division lead, but have since fallen back. They were edged by the resurgent Canadiens on Friday, getting a shorthanded goal from Zack Smith early in the third to cut a two-goal deficit in half, but the equalizer never materialized.

"We really could've used (a power-play goal) tonight," coach Paul MacLean said. "Montreal did a good job of getting in the shooting lanes and not letting us get the puck to the net from the point, and we didn't did make the adjustments to get it to the net properly."

Who's Hot: Thomas Vanek was held without a point for only the second time this season on Friday. He leads the Sabres with 8 goals and 16 points. Jason Pominville, who has 5 goals and 15 points, was blanked for only the third time. ... Senators defenseman Filip Kuba has contributed 5 assists over the last four games.

Injury Report: Buffalo forward Tyler Ennis has been sidelined with a sprained ankle, while forward Jochen Hecht is on injured reserve due to a concussion. ... Alfredsson also has a concussion and is currently out for Ottawa, while defenseman Matt Carkner (knee) and forward Peter Regin (shoulder) are on injured reserve.

Stat Pack: Enroth put together a shutout streak of 107 minutes, 39 seconds over two starts and a relief appearance for the Sabres before giving up a third-period goal Friday to Alex Tanguay. ... Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson led all skaters with 26:33 of ice time and seven shots on goal against the Canadiens, but was also minus-2 and had a giveaway that led to the decisive score.

Puck Drop: Vanek and Pominville have carried Buffalo at times offensively, but a couple of other key contributors, Stafford and Derek Roy, each snapped six-game point droughts in Friday's victory. Roy set up Stafford's goal, which came on a one-timer.

"It's one of things when things aren't going well, if you're going through a rough patch, you have to make sure that the work's still there," Stafford said. "I knew eventually one would go in and it just happened to go in tonight, so it felt pretty good."

Good night for Roy to finally score a goal.

I want my 2 points.

Since NYI brought back paperboy yesterday and we won...here he is again

Holy fucking fuck...Boyes couldn't suck a dick if it landed in his mouth.

If we lose, I'll play the superstitious fanboy role and say it's because you posted it, not me.

Hey, the paperboy and I were pretty good luck down the stretch last season...

sooo, cbc is saying enroth is starting

uh...seriously?
On a back to back?

/confused

no RJ tonight