Thanks to the NHL's two-day holiday break, not a creature was stirring in HSBC Arena. That may have been better than the alternative considering the Buffalo Sabres' least-favorite guests invade the house today.

The Sabres' post-Christmas portion of the schedule starts with the Ottawa Senators, the

Northeast Division rivals who have lived a fairy-tale existence in this series since 2005-06.

Ottawa is 22-6-4 during the regular season, including 9-3-3 at the foot of Washington Street.

Buffalo enters the game eager to erase Wednesday's lackluster 5-2 loss in Washington.

Ottawa enters during a whirlwind week that has included zebra hunting, celebrity gossip and

injury returns and exits.

The Senators started getting headlines Monday when their dressing room was visited by

sports reporters and entertainment writers. Center Mike Fisher and singer Carrie Underwood got

engaged over the weekend, putting all kinds of attention on the Sens.

"It's like TMZ in here," forward Shean Donovan told the Ottawa Sun. "It's awesome."

The 29-year-old player and 26-year-old "American Idol" alumna met after she performed in

Canada's capital in March 2008.

"We're both obviously excited and very happy," said Fisher, who shied away from divulging

proposal details. "It was an exciting time, for sure. That's all I want to say."

Once the lights moved from Fisher, they found coach Cory Clouston and General Manager Bryan

Murray eager for their close-ups. Ottawa failed to receive a power play during Monday's 2-0

loss to Boston. According to research by the Sun, of the first 540 NHL games, only eight

featured a team getting zero power plays. Nearly half those (three) belonged to Ottawa.

"It's a little disrespectful to our players," Clouston said. "They're working extremely

hard. They're doing what they need to do to draw penalties. They come to the bench and they're

frustrated, and they don't know why that wasn't a call ... We just tell them to keep working

hard."

Added Murray: "I don't want the story to be that I'm a complainer. That's not the case.

This is the first time I've called the league in two years. I'm the least complainer in the

league."

That didn't stop the men in stripes from responding.

"It strikes me as something where [Murray] is not having as much success as he wants, so

maybe it's not his fault. Maybe it's our fault," referee Mike Leggo told Sportsnet.ca. "Take

the blame off his players. Try and shift the focus, try and get the next break.

"There's no animosity toward any particular team. I think it is a ridiculous assertion that

we have anything to do with it," he added.

The Senators received six power plays Wednesday against Pittsburgh and failed to connect on

any. There was worse news. They lost, 8-2, and lost captain Daniel Alfredsson to a shoulder

injury that will keep him out for weeks. It offsets Wednesday's injury returns by Donovan,

Chris Neil and goaltender Pascal Leclaire.

Clouston declined to speak about the injury-causing hit delivered by Craig Adams.

"I just don't want to comment," Clouston said. "I don't really want to say anything more

... to say if it was a penalty or not. We did that and we were called whiners."