Sabres to recognize Pominville ahead of rematch with Senators

Jason Pominville was able to have his family in attendance for his 1,000th game in Ottawa on Thursday, a surprise gesture by Terry and Kim Pegula. Pominville's wife, parents and children were flown in and greeted him in the dressing room before the game.
Now, he'll get a chance to celebrate with his extended family. The Sabres will recognize Pominville during a pregame ceremony prior to their rematch with the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon.
"When you play 1,000 games in this league, the best league in the world, it says a lot about the individual and the dedication to the game that he has," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I think the just the way his career went, he had to earn everything."

Pominville has scored five goals and five assists during his six-game point streak, including the goal that ignited a near-comeback for the Sabres in the third period in Ottawa on Thursday. The Sabres outshot the Senators 23-7 in that period (and 48-32 overall) but fell short of erasing a three-goal deficit in what ended as a 4-2 loss.
Housley's message to his team on Saturday was to start the same way they finished their last game. The Sabres took five penalties in the first two periods on Thursday, which prevented them from establishing a flow to their game.
"I go back to our third period and if we play our style of game, that's what we can control," Housley said. "When we start that way, the X's and O's really don't come into play that much. Obviously, the structure, you have to be true to it in five-on-five play, but if we can play our game and establish our forecheck and zone time like we did in the third period, I think we're going to be fine."
Linus Ullmark will start in net for the Sabres, who are playing the first of back-to-back games. They'll travel to New York to play the Rangers on Sunday night.
Zach Bogosian will be in on defense after taking a maintenance day on Friday. Evan Rodrigues will draw back into the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch for the past three games, replacing Remi Elie on a line with Vladimir Sobotka and Kyle Okposo.
Coverage on MSG-B begins at 1:30 p.m. with the GMC Game Night pregame show, or you can listen live on WGR 550. The puck drops at 2.