*Photo from The Hockey News*
From the beginning, this one felt over pretty quick. Boris Katchouk had a goal and an assist, Shane Pinto had a goal and 3 assists, and the Ottawa Senators rolled past the Buffalo Sabres with a 6-2 victory Wednesday night in Buffalo.
The Senators won for the 3rd straight time and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games as they rode a 5 goal first period to a convincing win. Brady Tkachuk, Jakob Chychrun, and Drake Batherson all joined Katchouk with a goal and an assist each while Pinto had a 4 point game.
Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin said of the win that "I thought that we were ready to go. We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good."
Artem Zub gave the Senators a 1-0 lead when he scored 2:37 into the game, his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Mark Kastelic and Katchouk. Kastelic and Parker Kelly assisted on Katchouk's goal a few minutes later to make it 2-0. Batherson then made it 3-0 with help from Tkachuk and Pinto before Chychrun scored his 12th goal of the season to make it a 4-0 game.
Tkachuk scored with 49 seconds left in the first period to make it 5-0 with Pinto and Thomas Chabot assisting. JJ Peterka scored 2:54 into the second period to get the Sabres on the board. Connor Clifton scored at the 13:57 mark of the second to cut the Sabres deficit to 5-2. Pinto scored the only goal of the 3rd period to make it a 6-2 final.
Pinto said after the game that "If you want to win, you need balance. And we had that tonight and it's going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board."
It was Joonas Korpisalo who got the start in the net for the Senators, picking up the win to improve his record to 18-21-4. Korpisalo stopped 34 of the 36 shots the Sabres sent at him, giving him a .944 save percentage.
Getting the start between the pipes for the Sabres was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who got hung out to dry as he fell to 24-19-3 in 44 starts. Luukkonen made 5 saves on 9 shots before he was pulled. Devon Levi came on in relief and stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced.
Clifton said of the loss that "We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals. I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game."
The Senators host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday to wrap up a back to back, with Anton Forsberg set to start in goal. Levi is the projected starter for the Sabres when they take on the New Jersey Devils on Friday.
Comments
Post a Comment