The Buffalo Sabres were able to manage five goals in 21 shots against the Ottawa Senators thanks to a bunch of quality scoring chances and the ability to score goals in quick bunches. The Sabres started the game with two goals in a span of 16 seconds during the second minute of the game, the first goal scored by Derek Roy and the second scored by Matt Ellis. The Sabres had six shots on net on Craig Anderson during the first 2:25 of the game and after the second goal, Senators goaltender Craig Anderson was pulled in favor of Alex Auld.
From there, the Sabres slowed down and only had 15 shots on net for the rest of the game. Even though the Sabres had few shots on net, the team managed to get goals from Jordon Leopold, Luke Adam, and Ville Leino. The final two goals, from Adam and Leino, came 57 seconds apart from each other during the four minute mark of the third period. The lone Senators goal came on the power play from Sergei Gonchar at the 4:38 mark of the first period.
Jhonas Enroth started the game, which was his third in four games, and was stellar as he stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced. He looked solid in net as he only had to scramble a couple of times to try and make a save. With the Sabres playing three games in four nights this week and their next game coming Saturday night against the Bruins, I would expect Ryan Miller to start on the road against the Bruins and Enroth to get another start either Monday or Wednesday night.
The Sabres defense as a group seemed more solid against the Senators than they did against the Winnipeg Jets. Marc Andre Gragnani was the only player on defense that registered a giveaway and the team as a whole had seven giveaways on the night. After having a terrible game against the Winnipeg Jets, both Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera rebounded by finishing the game with a plus/minus rating of +1. Each player still had a few bonehead decisions and a handful of missed shots, but the pairing didn’t have as many glaring mistakes like they did against the Jets on Tuesday night.
The Sabres next game has them heading to Boston to take on the defending Stanley Cup champions for the first time this season on Saturday night. The Sabres have had recent success against the Bruins, going 5-4-1 in their last ten games at the TD Garden. In the last five though, the Sabres are 2-3 in Boston.