Sabres Drop Third Straight; Fall To Senators 5-3
Ottawa, ON (WGR 550) -- The Buffalo Sabres got on the scoreboard first, but the Ottawa Senators scored five straight times to dump the Sabres 5-3 Saturday night at Scotia Bank Place.
Thomas Vanek gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead late in the first period over the Ottawa Senators on a power play goal. Vanek chipped in a rebound chance after a hard shot from the point by Chris Butler. Butler and Tim Connolly assisted on the extra man tally. Vanek's goal came with :53 seconds to go in the opening period. Brian Lee was serving a minor penalty for interference when the goal was scored. The Sabres outshot Ottawa mightily in the first, 17-5.
Ottawa scored on the man advantage just :50 seconds into the second period to tie the game 1-1. Filip Kuba beat Patrick Lalime on the power play to even the score. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson received the assists. Henrik Tallinder was in the box for Buffalo after being called for a hooking minor penalty.
Alfredsson scored more than seven minutes later to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. The goal came after a sustained offensive attack by Ottawa in the Sabres' zone. The goal was assisted by Kuba and Chris Phillips. The Sabres' penalty kill took care of a 5-on-3 Ottawa advantage late in the middle stanza. Derek Roy was called for tripping, and then Jochen Hecht took a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass in the defensive zone.
Brian Elliott took over between the pipes for the Ottawa Senators to start the third period, in relief of Pascal Leclaire. Leclaire suffered a lower body injury in the game, and did not return to the ice for the third. Chris Kelly upped the Sens' lead over Buffalo to 3-1 with a quick strike in the third period. Matt Carkner picked up the lone assist on the insurance goal. Milan Michalek's tenth goal of the season made the score 4-1 in the third. Kuba and Jason Spezza assisted on the goal.
Alfredsson's second goal of the game gave the Sens a commanding 5-1 lead midway through the third. Kuba picked up another assist on the goal. Kuba scored 4 points during the game, with 1 goal and 3 assists. Mike Fisher was credited with the other assist.
Patrick Kaleta pounced on a rebound in front of the net to cut into the Sabres' deficit 5-2 almost half way through the third. Roy and Tallinder were given assists on the goal. Jason Pominville scored 1:33 later for Buffalo to bring the team within two goals of Ottawa, 5-3 in the third. Roy and Tallinder also assisted on Pominville's even strength score. Chris Neil was called for 2 penalties late in the third, giving Buffalo a 4 minute power play with 4:11 to play. The team failed to score on either penalty, and pulled Lalime in favor of the extra attacker with two minutes to go in the game.
Lalime made 21 saves on 26 Ottawa shots, while Leclaire and Elliott combined to turn away 38 shots. Leclaire earned the victory with 24 saves in two periods of work.
The Sabres head to Washington on Wednesday night for a seven o'clock puck drop with the Capitals. Catch all of the action, including pregame coverage with Schopp and the Bulldog at 6 p.m., on WGR Sports Radio 550 and wgr550.com.
Photo courtesy of The AP.
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