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Sabres look to claim home split in Game Two

May 12, 2007 - 1:02 PM Ottawa at Buffalo 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference Finals Ottawa leads, 1-0

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- When the Ottawa Senators score first they are perfect this postseason. The Buffalo Sabres would like to make sure that statistic has less relevance.

The Sabres host the Senators in Game Two of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday at the HSBC Arena.

With a 5-2 road win over the Sabres on Thursday, the Senators improved to 7-0 this postseason when scoring first. As a result, the Sabres find themselves down in a playoff series for the first time this postseason.

Buffalo is no stranger in handling adversity though. They led the league with 53 regular-season wins despite, at one point, missing seven players to injuries.

Besides giving up three third-period goals - half of the total they allowed in the final period during six games against the New York Rangers in the last round - and committing 19 turnovers, the NHL's highest-scoring offense managed a meager 20 shots on net.

Not helping matters is co-captain Daniel Briere, who led the team with 95 points in the regular season. While he has 11 points (two goals and nine assists), Briere has yet to score an even-strength goal in the playoffs.

The Sabres are attempting to overcome their own poor playoff history. Buffalo is 1-13 in best-of-seven series after losing Game One.

On the other hand, the Senators continued their considerable roll through the postseason, improving to 9-2 and further shedding their long history of playoff disappointments.

Ottawa is making only its second conference final appearance despite making the playoffs for a 10th straight year.

The Senators can take another big step with a win Saturday, which would mark the first time in franchise history the team had won the first two games of a series. Their only two losses this postseason have come in second games against Pittsburgh and New Jersey.