  Sabres coach Lindy Ruff says his squad needs to find a way to beat the Senators. (QMI Agency file) |
BUFFALO -- Lindy Ruff isn't pulling any punches.
The Sabres coach told reporters Wednesday morning it's time for his club to finally find a winning solution against the Senators.
Buffalo hasn't beaten the Senators since Jan. 6, 2009 -- a streak of seven straight losses to Ottawa.
"You can hide under the covers, but Ottawa knows it's a big game too," said Ruff. "It's the fact we haven't beaten them. We've had a tough time with them. You can't deny that. Every game is a new opportunity to beat them and we're going to have to play a real good game to do that."
The Senators, who are riding a franchise-record nine-game winning streak, can also pull within three points of the Sabres for top spot in the Northeast Division. The only lineup change for Ottawa will see centre Jesse Winchester inserted into the roster for the injured Nick Foligno. Winchester has missed 11 games with a knee injury.
Goalie Brian Elliott will start for the Senators while Ryan Miller will be in net for the Sabres. He has an 8-12-2 lifetime record vs. Ottawa with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .906 save-percentage.
"It doesn't matter who we're playing, we're playing with confidence," said coach Cory Clouston. "I'm not just going to say because we're playing Buffalo, we're confident. It's not fair to them and it's not fair to our team.
"We're confident going into most games that we know if play our game we're going to give ourselves a chance to win."
