At the Horn | Senators 5 - Sabres 1

Tage Thompson scored for the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators inside Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

Buffalo held a 46-31 edge in shots but was unable to get anything else by Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg, who finished with 45 saves.

Jakob Chychrun, Zack Macewen, Dominik Kubalik, Mark Kastelic, and Artem Zub scored goals for the Senators.

Sabres goaltender Devon Levi stopped 26 of 30 shots faced.

Sabres coach Don Granato was unavailable for the game due to an illness for the second consecutive game. Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert assumed Granato’s duties behind the bench.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 6:51 (PP) – Jakob Chychrun from Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson (1-0, OTT)

After Kyle Okposo was called for tripping, Dylan Cozens picked off a pass at the Ottawa blue line to give the Sabres a shorthanded opportunity 18 seconds into the penalty kill.

The Senators capitalized on their power play less than a minute later as Giroux dished a pass through the slot to Chychrun in the right circle for a one-timer to beat Levi.

Period 1, 12:38 – Zack Macewen from Jacob Bernard-Docker and Thomas Chabot (2-0, OTT)

Macewen snuck down the right wing as the Sabres were making a change and ripped a shot glove side to put Ottawa up 2-0.

Period 1, 19:46 – Tage Thompson from Jeff Skinner (2-1, OTT)

Thompson put the Sabres on the board with 14 seconds remaining in the period after Skinner intercepted a pass along the half wall in the Senators’ zone. Thompson stickhandled into the slot and buried a shot over the glove of Forsberg to put the Sabres within one.

Period 2, 7:18 – Dominik Kubalik from Ridly Greig and Thomas Chabot (3-1, OTT)

Ottawa won the faceoff in its own end as Kubalik and Greig led the Senators on the rush. Greig slid a pass in front of the net for Kubalik, who backhanded the puck past Levi to extend the lead.

Period 2, 19:44 – Mark Kastelic from Erik Brannstrom (4-1, OTT)

Cozens attempted to break up a pass with his glove in the Sabres’ zone after his stick broke, but the puck landed on the stick of Brannstrom, who fed Kastelic in the slot for a deflection into the net.

Period 3, 15:16 (EN) – Artem Zub, unassisted (5-1, OTT)

As Okposo and Kastelic were in the penalty box for roughing, the Sabres pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. Zub scored on the empty net to make it 5-1.

HIGHLIGHTS

POSTGAME COMMENTS

UP NEXT

The Sabres play their first game of the new year when they travel to Montreal on Thursday for a 7 p.m. matchup at Bell Centre.

Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.