In Buffalo, special teams were the name of the game, for the Ottawa Senators.
On Tuesday night, the Senators potted three power play goals and a shorthanded marker in a 5-2 thumping of the Sabres.
Tyler Ennis had a goal for the Senators – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Craig Anderson made 28 saves in the win.
Ottawa has points in six of their seven games.
“We’ve been in a lot of games. We kind of strung out some overtime losses there and gotten some points,” Anderson said. “We haven’t been rewarded for our efforts, but we’ve just got to keep striving to get better and get rewarded for the good hard work, and that’s what it was tonight.”
Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel scored for the Sabres.
“We can’t play like that at home, a team coming off a back-to-back. We just had a break,” Eichel said. “It’s not good enough. I mean, if you want to make the playoffs, that’s not a playoff-caliber effort by us. You know that, I know that, everyone in the room knows that.”
Tyler Ennis and Mike Reilly picked up two points each on the night with a goal apiece.
“It was just something we’ve been clicking of late and being able to make plays,” Reilly said. “I know [Davis] Payne, the assistant coach, has done a really good job with giving us a good game plan, seeing what we can kind of exploit. Definitely feel like it’s been going well.”
Jean-Gabriel Pageauopened the scoring when he gave the Sens a 1-0.
Mark Borowiecki and Nikita Zaitsev scored into empty nets late.
“He’s (Borowiecki) kind of the heart and soul of the team,” Reilly said. ” You know what effort he’s going to bring every single night and guys can feed off that for sure with his physicality and his compete level. It kind of gets guys going. Maybe things are going bad; you just see how hard he’s competing and you want to try to rise to the occasion a little bit just like him.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Sabres highlights]
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves through the midway point of the third period; he left the game with a lower body injury after a fall in the crease.
It’s tough,” Eichel said. “We come in here every day and hear from [the media] how many points we’re out [of a playoff spot] and what we need to do to get to the playoffs and this and that.
“It’s important to keep it small. If you overlook things, it’ll bite you in the [rear end] kind of like it did tonight. Maybe we overlooked this game. Every game for us should be the most important game on our schedule.”
Carter Hutton made four saves in relief.
You must be logged in to post a comment.