Top 5 most heated rivalries in Buffalo Sabres history
By Sion Fawkes
Ottawa Senators
Arguably right on par if not higher than the Buffalo Sabres rivalry with the Canadiens are the Ottawa Senators. February 22nd, 2007 is one such date that both franchises will always have circled in red. It was the day of the infamous brawl, instigated when Chris Drury took an unnecessary hit from Chris Neil.
Then head coach Lindy Ruff responded with a line that featured Patrick Kaleta, Andrew Peters, and Adam Mair. That’s when the game turned into something that resembled a battle royal on the ice, so much even goaltenders Martin Biron and Ray Emery got into it. And at one point, even the coaches looked as though they were about to square off.
There have been other notorious incidents over the years, but this one stands out the most among both franchises and fan bases. But classic battles have also erupted, including several playoff battles that started in the late 1990s when the Sabres knocked off the Senators four games to three in 1997.
On their way to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999, the Sabres swept the Senators, before defeating them in five games in 2006. Unfortunately, the Senators got the best of the Sabres in 2007, the same year in which the brawl occurred.
Neither team has done much since the Senators deep postseason run in 2017, as each have missed the playoffs between the 2017-18 and 2021-22 seasons. But now that they have improved in recent years, the Sens and Sabres might just start partying like it’s the late 1990s and early 2000s once more.
Article Source: Rivalry Week: Sabres vs. Senators by Melissa Burgess