It was too little, barely too late for the Senators as their potential game-tying goal didn’t cross the goal line before the final buzzer sounded Tuesday night in Ottawa.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau found the back of the net in a frenzied 6-on-4 Senators power play at the end of the game. Replays showed the puck just outside of the goal line as the clock hit zero, as Ottawa lost for the third time in four games.
Jack Eichel scored the game tying and winning goals for the Sabres, who snapped a three game losing streak before heading into the NHL All-Star Break. Eichel’s 1st was a wraparound goal on the power play after goalie Robin Lehner fired a sharp pass that led Eichel down right wing. The second came with the puck bouncing in front of Anderson. Eichel got behind the crowd and easily slid it in the net.
Lehner was tremendous in his return to Ottawa. He ended with 34 saves, including two huge ones late in the game. He denied Bobby Ryan in a wraparound attempt of his own, and then gloved Erik Karlsson’s sharp wrister with just over four minutes left in the game.
Karlsson and Bobby Ryan were the goal scorers for Ottawa, who couldn’t hold on to two separate leads during the game. They outshot the Sabres 36-22 after the Sabres had an early shot advantage. Buffalo had only nine shots in the final two periods.
Evander Kane got credit for Buffalo’s first goal after a puck took a weird bounce off a dump in and Kane banked it off Anderson.
Fun fact of the night: The Sabres scored three goals, but had only one assist. It came from Robin Lehner, the goalie.
Buffalo gets a week off for the All-Star break, but picks back up next Wednesday in Montreal.