Pominville caps home finale

Jack Eichel had a hand in three Buffalo goals and Carter Hutton made 21 saves as the Buffalo Sabres snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the Ottawa Senators, 5-2, at KeyBank Center. 

Aside from the solid effort from Buffalo tonight, Jason Pominville scored the “I’m not crying, you’re crying” goal of the night, by potting his 16th of the season in what may very well be his last game in Buffalo.

Freshly signed goaltender Joey Daccord made a haphazard pass to his left, and couldn’t make it back to his net, as Pominville pinched up the near boards, and fired a shot past the returning, sprawling netminder for the final goal of the home campaign for the Sabres.

Jack Eichel was particularly dominant in this contest, as aside from the three registered points, his possession in the offensive zone was indeed spectacular.

On his second assist of the night, Eichel single-handedly kept the puck in the zone and found himself in a battle with two Senators at the left face-off dot. Eichel won said battle, cycled down behind the net, and threw a beautiful backhand, no-look pass right on the tape of Sam Reinhart, who buried a shot glove-side for his 21st of the season. The goal turned out to be to the winning goal on the evening.

Also scoring for Buffalo on the night were Victor Olofsson and Kyle Okposo, who each netted power-play markers.

Carter Hutton was largely un-needed in this game, as the Sabres did an excellent job on defense, limiting Ottawa’s attempted offense through the neutral zone. In what has become a rare occurrence during the latter half of the year, Buffalo did not spend a great deal of time in their own zone, which allowed them more space in the neutral zone, and consequently, good offensive zone possession.

For his first NHL start, Joey Daccord saw a great deal of rubber from the Sabres. Buffalo put 40 shots on the Ottawa net, and while he acquitted himself fairly well, there were some bumps in the road. The Pominville goal was largely on the young goalie, as he was very shaky with playing the puck. He also tried to play a puck that was in the air behind his own net, and while transferring the puck from his glove to his stick, took a tumble to the ice, much to the delight of the home fans.

Up next for Buffalo will be the season finale against the Detroit Red Wings, in Detroit, on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. from the Motor City.

Craig Schutts
Craig Schutts
Millersville Alumni; Life-long Buffalo sports fan; Part-time writer and podcaster until they throw me out!
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