In Buffalo, Anton Forsberg made 23 saves in a 3-1 win for the Ottawa Senators over the Sabres on Thursday night.
“We took six [minor penalties], so that that throws you right off and we just weren’t crisp, especially in the first period,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “But our penalty kill was great. Other than one mistake, our penalty kill wins us the game.”
Kyle Okposo gave the Sabres an early 1-0 lead and then failed to generate much offense after that.
“As a forward group we just didn’t have enough sustained pressure in the offensive zone and allowed them too much room to get speed and get on our [defensemen],” Okposo said.
Ottawa improved to 18-25-4.
Zach Sanford and Austin Watson scored for the Senators to give them a 2-1 lead after falling behind early.
“Yeah, that was a nice pass by him,” Sanford said. “He’s had quite a few of those this year. … I see him with the puck, I’m just trying to get to the net and he puts it right on my tape.”
Brady Tkachuk added an empty-net goal in the final minute for the icing on the win.
“I think we had a game plan the whole game and we really got to [it] in the third period there,” Sanford said. “I think it showed and we were able to play our game — stay on the puck, stay hard, stay heavy, and it worked out for us in the end.”
Buffalo dropped to 16-25-8.
“The execution was not there,” Buffalo head coach Don Granato said. “But still, you have to look at your work ethic, you have to look at your willingness to battle and, at the end of the day, if you have a team that wants to compete and is hungry, you’ve got to return that. And that was the difference tonight. They were hungrier than we were, more than we were. And we weren’t that enough, period, and that accumulated to the point where they hit that break point in the third period there.”
Craig Anderson made 25 saves in the Sabres loss, his first game against against his former team.
“Spent a good eight, nine years with most of those guys, the staff members over there,” Anderson said. “It was just good to see them, smile at them. They think it’s great that I’m still 40 and still playing, and I think it’s great that they still laugh at me.
“… It’s just fun when you’re playing people you know, and it makes that rivalry just a little bit more energetic and it keeps the moment light. You realize that this is a game, it’s supposed to be fun, and that’s part of it.”
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