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Senators look to close out Sabres in Game Five

May 19, 2007 - 1:34 PM Ottawa at Buffalo 2:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference Finals Senators lead, 3-1

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Despite trailing by three goals less than midway through Game Four, the Ottawa Senators nearly tied the game late in an attempt to sweep their bitter division rivals. On Saturday, they look to take care of their unfinished business.

The Senators will get a second shot at clinching their first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals when they face the Buffalo Sabres in Game Five of the Eastern Conference finals at the HSBC Arena.

Ottawa, with a three-games-to-one lead, look to avenge a 3-2 setback on Wednesday. Derek Roy's goal for Buffalo nine seconds into the contest set the tone early on and was the fastest score allowed by the Senators in the playoffs, beating the previous mark of 21 seconds set by Philadelphia's Claude Lapointe on May 3, 2003.

Despite the defeat, the Senators are 11-3 this postseason and have yet to lose two games in a series after needing five games to eliminate both Pittsburgh and New Jersey in the first two rounds. In this series, Ottawa has shown great resilience as it has rallied from a two-goal deficit to pull out a 4-3 double-overtime win in Game Two and nearly overcame a three-goal deficit on Wednesday.

Conversely, the Sabres want to show their regular-season success was no fluke. Buffalo, which led the NHL in the regular season with 53 wins and 308 goals, has been outscored (12-8) and outshot (131-94) in their second straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

As a result, Buffalo would likely be done by now if not for Ryan Miller's standout play in the net. Miller allowed only one of 32 shots to touch the back of the net in a 1-0 loss in Game Three and stopped another 31 to prevent a sweep by Ottawa on Wednesday.

Miller was instrumental in shutting out the Senators' top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, which did not register a point for the first time this postseason.

The Sabres are attempting to bounce back from two home losses at the start of the series and avoid losing three home games in a series for the fourth time in franchise playoff history. The last time occurred in a six-game series loss to Washington in the 1998 East finals.

Buffalo right wing Dainius Zubrus - one of the team's best defensive forwards this postseason - is unlikely to play due to an undisclosed lower-body injury. Drew Stafford and Nathan Paetsch are the most likely candidates to replace Zubrus in the lineup.