Forsberg makes 45 saves, Senators defeat Sabres

OTTAWA -- Anton Forsberg made 45 saves for the Ottawa Senators in a 5-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

“I felt really good. Not a lot of rebounds,” Forsberg said. “The team did a good job of keeping them on the outside and not screening me, so that’s good. They get a lot of credit for it, too. Most of my saves were clean saves, and that has a lot to do with them.”

Zack MacEwen and Mark Kastelic each scored his first goal of the season for the Senators (14-18-0), who are 3-1-0 in their past four games.

“Obviously, they had a lot of shots on net, but I don’t think we gave them much on the inside,” Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “And obviously, ‘Bergy’ was doing his usual thing, being outstanding and keeping us [in the game] and making good saves. It’s just a great team effort overall.”

Chabot had two assists in his return after missing 12 games with a fractured tibia.

“A little rusty, not going to lie, at times,” Chabot said. “It’s a little different than practice, obviously, but you know what? At the end of the day, I’m happy I got through the first game. Everything went well and we got the win tonight, so that’s all that matters to me.”

Tage Thompson scored, and Devon Levi made 26 saves for the Sabres (15-19-4), who were coming off a 3-2 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday but are 1-2-1 in their past four games.

“We are battling, we are fighting,” Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin said. “It doesn’t really bounce our way today. They got some [bad] goals, to be honest. I mean, we have to score on our chances. We have to get greasy in front of their net and get some rebound goals. We have to be better.”

The Sabres were without coach Don Granato for the second straight game because of an illness. Seth Appert, who is the coach of Buffalo's American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester, filled in for Granato.

“I think we need more guys living around the net,” Appert said. “I mean, especially if you are fighting it a little bit or you’re gripping the stick a little if you haven’t scored as much as you think you should or on your chances. Goals go in around the blue paint, and you get rewards there. You get rewarded for going there.”

Jakob Chychrun gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 6:51 of the first period when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Claude Giroux for a power-play goal.

“I think we came out good,” Senators coach Jacques Martin said. “I think our mindset was the right one tonight. I thought that we competed much harder right from the start, and I thought we had good puck control. We had some giveaways, but I think, you know, we addressed it in between periods, but overall our mindset was much better for this game than last game (a 6-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday).”

MacEwen made it 2-0 at 12:38, scoring glove side on Levi with a slap shot from the top of the right circle on a rush. It was his first goal since Jan. 9 (32 games).

Thompson cut it to 2-1 at 19:46 of the first. After Jeff Skinner knocked down Jacob Bernard-Docker's clearing attempt along the left boards, Thompson picked up the puck, deked Tim Stützle at the top of the slot and beat Forsberg glove side with a wrist shot.

Dominik Kubalik extended the lead to 3-1 at 7:18 of the second period. Ridly Greig got around Dahlin on a rush and fed Kubalik, who chipped a backhand over Levi’s left pad from in front.

“If we play the right way, we shouldn’t have to bounce back as often as we do,” Forsberg said. “We’ve got to bring it every night, and that’s something we’ve got to find as a group, otherwise it’s hard to be successful.”

Kastelic made it 4-1 at 19:44 of the second, redirecting Erik Brannstrom's shot from the high slot. Artem Zub then scored into an empty net at 15:16 of the third period for the 5-1 final.

“We’re going to figure it out,” Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton said. “Obviously, this would’ve been a big win for our group. We’ve got to find a way to grind and claw back to .500, and then we can start doing damage. Obviously, the goals thing, they’re going to come. I hope it’s going to be next game, you know, with all the chances we’re getting. Like I said, the goalie over there played really well tonight and we couldn’t put it behind him.”

NOTES: Martin was coaching in his 1,300th NHL game. … Brannstrom had an assist and was plus-2 in 15:13 of ice time in his first NHL game as a forward.