On second thought, perhaps playing the Ottawa Senators outdoors might have been a better choice for the Buffalo Sabres.
A week before the home team moves over to Ralph Wilson Stadium for a New Year's Day game with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Sabres host an Ottawa club whose scorers could use a little cooling off.
Ottawa Senators' Jason Spezza, right, has been on a tear recently, piling up 15 points over his last seven games.
(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
Ottawa's Jason Spezza, for example, is on a seven-game point streak that has seen him notch seven goals and eight assists.
Then there's Dany Heatley, eight goals and four assists of his own packed up in the old kit bag. Just to make it worse, against the Sabres themselves, he has 21 points over the last 10.
The Sens are on a 7-1-1-1 run and are 23-8-1-3 overall — almost enough to make you mail in the two points.
Except, the Sabres have been slashing their own way through the NHL recently, winning 13 of their last 17 and six in a row en route to a 19-14-1 mark.
That run has been led by goaltender Ryan Miller, who made 31 saves against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday for a shootout victory.
Miller struggles with Sens
All might be OK if those rotten stats didn't keep poking up.
Such as Miller's 3-9 record in his last dozen starts against Ottawa, including a 3.17 GAA.
Or that the Senators are the club that knocked the Sabres out of the playoffs last spring in five games.
The teams have split their two games this year, each winning at home.
Gerber is cautious
Ottawa goaltender Martin Gerber is one who knows anything can happen.
"You look around the league and you see teams in first in their division and then in a few days they're out of the playoffs," he said. "It goes so quick.
"You have to try to come back and jump on the wagon."
Gerber, who sat in favour of Ray Emery for the overtime loss to Chicago on Saturday, is 4-1 with a 1.70 GAA in his last six games. On the road, he's 8-2.
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