![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27860164.jpg\")
Dec 20, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon (34) during a stoppage in play against the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\nSabres Shoot For Seven in a Row<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres\u00a0(17-14-4) vs\u00a0Ottawa Senators\u00a0(18-13-4)<\/p>\n
Puck Drop:\u00a07:00 pm Eastern Time | Canadian Tire Center | Ottawa, Ontario<\/p>\n
TV:\u00a0MSG, ESPN+<\/p>\n
Radio:\u00a0WGR 550<\/p>\n
Know Your Opponent<\/p>\n
Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a0(18-13-4)\u00a0| 40 PTS<\/p>\n
Last Game:\u00a0Beat Boston 6-2<\/p>\n
Division Ranking: 6th in the Atlantic<\/p>\n
PP:\u00a07th, 25.0% (Sabres: 14th, 20.4%)<\/p>\n
PK: 31st, 71.0% (Sabres: 1st, 84.8%)<\/p>\n
What to Watch<\/p>\n
1) A Turn of Events<\/p>\n
This is getting serious, folks. After a disastrous showing in Calgary not long ago, the Buffalo Sabres found themselves three games under .500 and sinking fast. They lost three in a row and once again all hope looked lost. The team was struggling, old wounds were cut open again and it looked like the players were ready to check out on the season. Then something happened, a turn of events nobody foresaw. In the middle of a six game roadtrip without a win, the Sabres suddenly started to gel. They were doing all the little things right. Finishing their checks, winning more battles, scoring some clutch goals and most importantly, getting better play between the pipes. They have now rattled off six wins in a row that has positioned them back in the chase for the post season.<\/p>\n
Buffalo will go for lucky number seven tonight, with a regulation victory giving them identical records with the Senators. That is a Christmas gift nobody was expecting. A Festivus miracle even. It would also pull them within 1 point of Boston and New Jersey (depending on the results of their games tonight) and shockingly right in the thick of this playoff race. They need to pull out all the stops to make this happen before the Christmas break.<\/p>\n
2) Sens Will be Ready<\/p>\n
Ottawa is rolling pretty well right now too, winning four in a row. Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle are leading the charge. Tkachuk has five goals in his last five games and Stutzle has racked up an amazing ten points in his last five. Linus Ullmark was just named one of the three stars of the week and has been solid this season.<\/p>\n
Buffalo has dominated the Sens of late, sweeping the season series last year and taking game 1 this season by a score of 8-4. The Sabres will need all hands on deck to beat them again. A team\u2019s fortunes can sometimes be determined within a few games in the season, and this might very well be one of them.<\/p>\n
3) Goaltending Will be Key<\/p>\n
Alex Lyon has won five games in a row and has been largely responsible for those victories. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen just turned in maybe his best performance of the season against the Devils. I expect Lyon to be back in the nets again tonight and another strong performance will be needed. But the Sabres cannot depend on him alone. They must continue the solid defensive play we have seen of late, strong backchecking and physical play with clean breakouts from their own zone. The offense must come to play as well, keep Ottawa pinned with a strong forecheck and get to the net with more shots. You don\u2019t beat Ullmark often without a redirection or screen. I cannot stress it enough, GET TO THE NET! A strong offensive showing is sometimes the best defense of all.<\/p>\n
Dec 20, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon (34) during a stoppage in play against the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Projected Lineups<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/p>\n
Peyton Krebs \u2013 Tage Thompson \u2013 Josh Doan
Noah Ostlund \u2013 Josh Norris \u2013 Alex Tuch
Zach Benson \u2013 Ryan McLeod \u2013 Jack Quinn
Josh Dunne \u2013 Beck Malenstyn \u2013 Jordan Greenway<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Rasmus Dahlin \u2013 Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power \u2013 Michael Kesselring
Bowen Byram \u2013 Zach Metsa<\/p>\n
Goalies: Alex Lyon, Ukko Pekka Luukkonen<\/p>\n
Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/p>\n
Brady Tkachuk \u2013 Tim Stutzle \u2013 Fabian Zetterlund
David Perron \u2013 Dylan Cozens \u2013 Drake Batherson
Michael Amadio \u2013 Ridly Greig \u2013 Claude Giroux
Kurtis MacDermid \u2013 Stephen Halliday \u2013 Nick Cousins<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Jake Sanderson \u2013 Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot \u2013 Jordan Spence
Nikolas Matinpalo \u2013 Nick Jensen<\/p>\n
Goalies: Linus Ullmark, Leevi Merilainen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sabres Shoot For Seven in a Row Buffalo Sabres\u00a0(17-14-4) vs\u00a0Ottawa Senators\u00a0(18-13-4) Puck Drop:\u00a07:00 pm Eastern Time | Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[5,4,72,25,5157,73],"class_list":{"0":"post-371430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-ottawa","11":"tag-ottawa-senators","12":"tag-ottawasenators","13":"tag-senators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115770069351548951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}