The Sabres came out like a ball of fire on Wednesday night and jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and held on for a 4-2 win against the Ottawa Senators. Michael Ryan has played well over the past three or four games and he was finally rewarded with his first goal of the season just 1:26 into the game. It was only the second shift of the game and the newly formed line of Gaustad-Paille-Ryan controlled play in the Senators zone. Ryan was stopped by Emery point blank but they didn't give up and Paille fed a pass to Ryan who was all alone in front. Ales Kotalik scored Buffalo's second goal on a 40 foot slap shot that Emery misplayed allowing Buffalo to go ahead 2-0. The Sabres third goal was a pretty one by Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek somehow found a way to thread a pass behind Emery and Roy put the puck into an open net. It was similar to the chance that Roy had last week against Ottawa but hit the post.
Ottawa took control of the game in the second period but Ryan Miller was up to the task and made a few huge saves. The Sens were able to beat him twice on goals by Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley. With the score 3-2 the Sabres were able to beat Ray Emery again to get the lead back to two. Thomas Vanek made another great play and fed a pass into Drew Stafford who put it into the back of the net.
The third period was one of the most boring periods I've ever watched. It literally almost put me to sleep. It was reminiscent of when you were a kid playing hot potato. It appeared that neither team wanted to keep control of the puck and continuously gave it away. The Senators never really amounted a threat and Buffalo hung on to win 4-2.
The Sabres will play again on Friday against the Montreal Canadiens, who they beat last week 4-1 to get out of their scoring slump. It will be the first game of a home and home with Montreal this weekend.