Drake Batherson gets his chance to make an eight-game run mean more on Wednesday night, when the Ottawa Senators visit the Buffalo Sabres and he can extend his point streak to nine games. Batherson has 18 points in 16 games this season, with 13 of those points coming during the streak that has carried him into this matchup.
That is why Senators Vs Sabres is drawing attention now: the game has a live milestone attached to one player, not just a regular-season date on the calendar. Tim Stutzle leads the Ottawa Senators with 21 points in 16 games, but Batherson has become the cleaner storyline because his production has held for more than a week and now sits one game from a new high.
The Buffalo Sabres have their own scorer in form. Tage Thompson leads them with 17 points in 14 games and has five goals in his past two games, starting with a hat trick in a 7-6 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 29 and following it with two goals in a 3-2 win at the Kings two nights later. That kind of burst is why this game does not belong to Batherson alone; if one streak keeps rolling, another can still steal the night.
There is also a piece of history hanging over Thompson’s run. Only four players in Sabres history had multigoal streaks of at least three games before his current attempt, and the list is a short one: Alexander Mogilny, Ales Kotalik, Pat LaFontaine and Rick Martin. Mogilny’s was the longest at five games, while the others all reached three, which shows how quickly Thompson has put himself into rare company.
The standing numbers only sharpen the stakes. The Senators are 9-6-1 and the Sabres are 7-4-3, so Wednesday night brings together two Eastern Conference teams that have already built respectable starts and now get a national stage through NHL on Prime Wednesday Night Hockey. Batherson’s streak can still be the first number people watch, but the real test is whether he can finish the game with nine in a row while Thompson keeps the pressure on at the other end.
If Batherson extends the streak, it will be the kind of step that turns a strong opening month into something more durable. If he does not, Thompson’s form is waiting to make sure the night still feels like a scoring showcase.
