Sabres get the better of the Sens, win 3-2

I don't understand why the Ottawa Senators can't handle the Buffalo Sabres. This Sabres team isn't good — in fact they’re at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They're playing James Reimer in net, a month away from his 38th birthday. And yet Ottawa lost all three games to them this season. Anton Forsberg suffered the defeat, Brady Tkachuk and David Perron got the goals, blah blah blah, nobody cares, the Sens lost what should've been an easy game.

At least this one started on a good note. Ottawa came out firing on all cylinders, throwing everything they could at Reimer (with good reason...?). First Tim Stützle hit the post, and then Brady Tkachuk made no mistake from a perfect touch-pass on an early powerplay.

The Sabres thought they'd tied it up a few minutes later, but JJ Peterka was a stride on the wrong side of the blue line and the Sens successfully challenged for offside. It took the refs less than 20 seconds to review and overturn the call, so it was one of those obvious non-goals that the coach's challenge was invented for. The Sens dominated the first 14 minutes or so of the period, but then got into the mood where they decided they weren't going to score before intermission so why try. The problem was there were still several minutes left, and the Sabres took advantage. First Tage Thompson put one through Anton Forsberg but couldn't solve the post, then Forsberg was the beneficiary of an early whistle, and finally Jack Quinn was the beneficiary of Peterka's brilliance and scored his first goal in 14 games. The Sabres registered a couple more high-danger chances before the period ran out, and Ottawa was probably lucky to escape with the 1-1 tie despite being the better team for the majority of the period.

David Perron had seemed a little ornery in the first period, and he boiled over into an unnecessary holding penalty to start the second. Thankfully the Sens got most of the puck possession on that PK and turned it into regaining the game's momentum. That earned the Sens their next powerplay, and Perron was Johnny on the spot to put the Sens back in the lead.

Much like the first, the Sens took their foot off the gas late in the period. This led to Buffalo tying it up again, this time thanks to Jacob Bernard-Docker scoring his first goal (and third point) as a Sabre. Forget Dylan Cozens, apparently JBD was the one being held back on his old team.

The pattern from the first periods didn't repeat to start the third, and Thompson gave the Sabres their first lead of the game. The play felt like a parody of Hamonic's issues this season, with him stumbling into Forsberg, falling to his knees, then failing to keep his stick flat on the ice so the pass went under to Thompson​.

Ottawa managed some extended pressure after Connor Clifton shoved Nick Jensen on top of Reimer and Reimer lost his stick, but the Sens refused to shoot five-hole. With 10 minutes left, Travis Green started putting put Chabot and Sanderson together, chasing some offence. He got the goalie out with 3 minutes left. Ottawa just couldn't put anything through Reimer and the Sabres' shot-blocking. It was a disheartening end to a game that Ottawa should've won easily. The Sens' only consolation was Montreal and Detroit were each losing at the end of this game.

Game Thoughts:

• This was not the finest game for Hamonic and Kleven. They got caught running around on two goals against. There was one play in the third when Kleven subbed on for Sanderson in the offensive zone, pinched in, and immediately passed back to the point where he'd been so obviously there was nobody there, setting up a 2-on-1 the other way. Maybe we need a game with Gilbert and Matinpalo to give these two a break. I think Kleven is the better option overall, but this is easily the most high-level hockey he's played in his career.
• Zetterlund is getting more comfortable in the Sens' top six. I don't love Giroux in the bottom six, but it's clear Fab Z isn't a fourth-liner.
• Would this game have gone any differently with Ullmark in net? Probably not. Forsberg was fine, not amazing, and it's hard to win when your team can only score on the powerplay.
• Maybe the big difference this game was the shot blocks were 18-8 for Buffalo. Ottawa just couldn't get anything through.

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