At the Horn | Sabres 5 - Senators 3

Tage Thompson scored twice in the first period to lead the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators inside KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Peyton Krebs tallied the game-winning goal 4:52 into the second and Dylan Cozens added an empty-net insurance goal with three seconds remaining in the game. JJ Peterka also scored while Rasmus Dahlin added two assists for the Sabres, who held a 4-1 lead after the second period and improved to 13-0-1 when leading after two periods.

Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 25 of 28 shots in his 17th start of the season and is now 3-0-1 in his last four starts.

The Sabres ended the night 1-for-3 on the power play while going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Forward Jordan Greenway led the team with 5:10 of shorthanded ice time.

Claude Giroux tallied a pair of goals while Vladimir Tarasenko scored once for the Senators in their fifth consecutive loss.

Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg started in net and made six saves before exiting with an injury with 3:44 remaining in the first period after making a pad save on Zach Benson. Joonas Korpisalo entered the game in relief of Forsberg, stopping 22 of 25 shots.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 9:14 – JJ Peterka from Dylan Cozens and Owen Power (1-0, BUF)

The Sabres earned the first power play of the night after Mark Kastelic was called for tripping Casey Mittelstadt at the 7:12 mark of the first.

As the power play was expiring, Power led the rush into the offensive zone and passed to Cozens on the right wing. Cozens stickhandled around Erik Brannstrom to feed Peterka at the back door for the first goal of the game.

Period 1, 15:06 – Vladimir Tarasenko, unassisted (1-1)

Buffalo won the faceoff in its own end but couldn’t clear the zone as Tarasenko ripped a shot from the point with a screen in front to beat Luukkonen five hole. 

Period 1, 17:28 – Tage Thompson from Rasmus Dahlin (2-1, BUF)

After Forsberg exited the game, Thompson entered the Senators’ zone and wristed a shot from the high slot through the Ottawa defense and off the left post and in to take back the lead.

Period 1, 19:32 (PP) – Tage Thompson from Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Quinn (3-1, BUF)

Dominik Kubalik tripped Jordan Greenway with 52 seconds remaining to send the Sabres back on the power play.

Thompson capitalized on the opportunity, tallying his second of the period as he buried a shot from the left faceoff dot.

Period 2, 4:52 – Peyton Krebs from Eric Robinson (4-1, BUF)

Krebs took the puck away from Brady Tkachuk to give the Sabres a 2-on-1 opportunity less than five minutes into the second. Krebs passed to Robinson, who gave it right back to Krebs for a shot on an open net with Korpisalo caught out of position.

Period 3, 0:43 – Claude Giroux from Ridly Greig (4-2, BUF)

Ottawa responded with a goal 43 seconds into the third as Erik Johnson laid out to block a shot by Tkachuk and was injured on the play. Greig stripped the puck from Quinn in front of Luukkonen before Giroux backhanded the loose puck from the slot and into the net. 

Period 3, 11:15 – Claude Giroux, unassisted (4-3, BUF)

The Sabres turned the puck over in their own end, leading to a one-timer by Giroux to put the Senators within one with 8:45 remaining in the game. 

Period 3, 19:57 – Dylan Cozens, unassisted (5-3, BUF)

Cozens retrieved a loose puck after Tim Stutzle turned it over in the Buffalo zone. He sealed the Sabres’ win with an empty-net goal, which was his seventh of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

VICTORY SPEECH

POSTGAME COMMENTS

GAME GALLERY

UP NEXT

The homestand continues Saturday when the Sabres host the Vancouver Canucks at KeyBank Center. 

Tickets are available here. 

Pregame coverage kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on MSG/MSG+ with puck drop scheduled for 4. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.