Ottawa, ON (WGR 550) -- The Buffalo Sabres got on the scoreboard first, but the Ottawa Senators scored five straight times to dump the Sabres 5-3 Saturday night at Scotia Bank Place.
Thomas Vanek gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead late in the first period over the Ottawa Senators on a power play goal. Vanek chipped in a rebound chance after a hard shot from the point by Chris Butler. Butler and Tim Connolly assisted on the extra man tally. Vanek's goal came with :53 seconds to go in the opening period. Brian Lee was serving a minor penalty for interference when the goal was scored. The Sabres outshot Ottawa mightily in the first, 17-5.
Ottawa scored on the man advantage just :50 seconds into the second period to tie the game 1-1. Filip Kuba beat Patrick Lalime on the power play to even the score. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson received the assists. Henrik Tallinder was in the box for Buffalo after being called for a hooking minor penalty.
Alfredsson scored more than seven minutes later to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. The goal came after a sustained offensive attack by Ottawa in the Sabres' zone. The goal was assisted by Kuba and Chris Phillips. The Sabres' penalty kill took care of a 5-on-3 Ottawa advantage late in the middle stanza. Derek Roy was called for tripping, and then Jochen Hecht took a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass in the defensive zone.
Brian Elliott took over between the pipes for the Ottawa Senators to start the third period, in relief of Pascal Leclaire. Leclaire suffered a lower body injury in the game, and did not return to the ice for the third. Chris Kelly upped the Sens' lead over Buffalo to 3-1 with a quick strike in the third period. Matt Carkner picked up the lone assist on the insurance goal. Milan Michalek's tenth goal of the season made the score 4-1 in the third. Kuba and Jason Spezza assisted on the goal.
Alfredsson's second goal of the game gave the Sens a commanding 5-1 lead midway through the third. Kuba picked up another assist on the goal. Kuba scored 4 points during the game, with 1 goal and 3 assists. Mike Fisher was credited with the other assist.
Patrick Kaleta pounced on a rebound in front of the net to cut into the Sabres' deficit 5-2 almost half way through the third. Roy and Tallinder were given assists on the goal. Jason Pominville scored 1:33 later for Buffalo to bring the team within two goals of Ottawa, 5-3 in the third. Roy and Tallinder also assisted on Pominville's even strength score. Chris Neil was called for 2 penalties late in the third, giving Buffalo a 4 minute power play with 4:11 to play. The team failed to score on either penalty, and pulled Lalime in favor of the extra attacker with two minutes to go in the game.
Lalime made 21 saves on 26 Ottawa shots, while Leclaire and Elliott combined to turn away 38 shots. Leclaire earned the victory with 24 saves in two periods of work.
The Sabres head to Washington on Wednesday night for a seven o'clock puck drop with the Capitals. Catch all of the action, including pregame coverage with Schopp and the Bulldog at 6 p.m., on WGR Sports Radio 550 and wgr550.com.
Daniel Alfreddson OWNS YOU! Do you know how much money I made for betting against you every time you play Ottawa? Yet, I'd be happier if you made lose that bet for ONCE.
11/21/2009 9:52PM
Ouch
Team is playing sloppy now. Too many pucks bouncing over sticks and shots going wide. It shows lack of confidence. Next time when Alfredson cuts across the middle someone knock his head off!! Hats off to Kaleta, another great game.
11/21/2009 10:00PM
OWNED BY SENS!!!
LOSERS GET OWNED BY ALFIE!!!!
FIRE REGEIR!!! FIRE RUFF!!!
ELITE MY AZZ!!!
11/21/2009 10:02PM
Seriously?
Laline is brutal...please keep him out of net. The guys have to be thinking "Oh No!" very time they learn he's gonna start a game. Put another "L" in the results column for every "L"aline start!!!
11/21/2009 10:36PM
here comes the
sabre banwagnors!!!!!!!!!
11/21/2009 11:00PM
where are they now?
where's Tommy's boys now who were talking about "the raod to the cup"? Like a horse race many horses can do a 21 quarter and 44 half but they can't last that 6 furlongs. Eventually your lack of talent is exposed. This is called falling back to the pack Euphies! Where's the Darcy fans now?
11/21/2009 11:22PM
Vanek
Can someone tell me what's wrong with Vanek? He finished the night -3 and he had the first goal...
11/22/2009 12:09AM
Grier
The frailty of this teams psyche is painfully apparent without Grier on the ice...HURRY BACK PLEASE!!! geez...
11/22/2009 12:17AM
Where are they?
Where are the Lindy lovers? Time for Lindy to go. This team won't make the playoffs under his direction. And that would make it 6 out 8 years...yet he gets a free pass in this town for some unknown reason.
11/22/2009 1:01AM
delusional fans
anyone who thought this team was different was smoking crack. the top two lines are deficient, and have been for a while. ruff's deficiencies are revealed in max's success. sound defensive players have a spot on a solid roster. this is not one of those.
11/22/2009 5:28AM
sabres train
is falling off the track.
11/22/2009 8:25AM
Seems like old times.......
Saw this a lot last year. Opening flury then fade away. While Miller, the "D" and the 3rd and 4th line seem improved this year, the top two lines look like last years version. That won't get it done for the long haul.
11/22/2009 8:39AM
Third Straight Loss
Fire Regeir and Ruff!
11/22/2009 8:48AM
Lalime!!
Some goals were not his fault, but he still lets in a couple soft goals. Time to go out and reacquire Biron from the Islanders. With Biron, at least we would have a capable backup and not have to worry about giving Miller a night off.
11/22/2009 9:03AM
WHY ME
Something has to give and the Sabres have to make some trades.The decline has started....
11/22/2009 9:14AM
It's Time
For Darcy to pull the trigger and make some deals. Starting to look like last seasons highlight reel. Pathetic!
11/22/2009 9:28AM
miller time
Ryan can't play every game but you do need a quality guy behind him. Patty is not quality - how hard is it to trade for a capable back up? Two phone calls?
11/22/2009 9:51AM
re: Vanek
He's lazy. Go Max! 20 points and counting.
11/22/2009 9:59AM
Trade Roy
He's awful
11/22/2009 10:13AM
The season is still young
20 games in and most Sabres fans want to throw Ruff and Regier to the wolves. Give them till the end of December. No excuses by then if they fail to improve over what has happened over the past 3 games.
11/22/2009 10:27AM
HaHa
I can't believe everyone thought the Sabres could make the PLayoffs this season!
11/22/2009 11:46AM
re Trade Roy
This is why our teams...we don't deserve it when people that don't know what they are talking about say Roy is awful. These are probably the same fans that wanted Afingenov gone last year and look what he is doing this year.We deserve loserswith attitudes like that.
11/22/2009 11:49AM
Misappropriated Funds
Vanek - $7MillionPominville - $5 MillionHecht - $3.5 Million.All Lindy's boys and all not worth the money. All we have is Miller, Roy and Myers.
11/22/2009 12:55PM
I'm Starting To Believe It
That Lindy Ruff is the problem here. He is an expert at wrecking offensive talent. Kovalchuk is right about what Max went through here. What a bummer. Ruffs system won't work.
11/22/2009 2:33PM
Same Old Sabres
This is what happens when the Sabres make no real moves to get some new talented players in here. The Sabres make no changes at the GM or coaching spot again for the 13th year in a row. If the team couldn't make the playoffs the past two years why would anyone think they could this year??? This is the same team as those past 2 years! Sabres will not make the playoffs for the 3rd straight year!
11/22/2009 2:41PM
re: re: Vanek
"He's lazy. Go Max! 20 points and counting." 9 goals=more than any Sabre...20 points=more than any sabre...on ATLANTA...wow...
11/22/2009 5:58PM
Wow
Sabres haven't made the playoffs 6 out of the past 8 years. And this year will make 7 out of 9. Give me a break. Time to clean house. This team is horrible top to bottom.
11/22/2009 7:28PM
Trade Vanek for Staal?
I would take Staal for Vanek any day. Staal is a Stanley Cup winner the Sabres might be able to get him for Vanek due to his slow start.
11/23/2009 10:15AM
10th place if they are lucky!
Vanek is worse than even Satan was & he makes more money per season than any Sabre in history. Why can no one within the organization see what the fans see? Why? Why do I continue to pull for a team that gives you no reason to pull for them even after I have moved 700 miles away? It must be my fault. They are stacked with lazy overpaid underachieving brats & can never beat teams below them in the standings. Had the chance to seriously create some space at the top of the division this weekend, they lose both & now are barely holding on. Here comes another long off season with no playoffs & a bunch of empty promises about the future while they bring the same team back next year. I agree Max was not working out anymore but who's fault was it really??
11/23/2009 11:38AM
La"lose"
Miller = possible win. Lalime = automatic loss...I think its time to rethink the back-up goalie situation
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