Ottawa, Ontario (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - It's a clean sweep for the Buffalo Sabres; four meetings, four victories.
The blue and gold squared off with the Ottawa Senators to close out the season series, and took care of business in a 5-2 victory at Canadian Tire Centre.
Eight-and-a-half minutes into the opening period, Alex Tuch stayed white-hot, located a loose puck in front and gave the Sabres the 1-0 lead.
The tally extended Tuch's goal-scoring streak to four games, wherein he has tickled twine five times over.
Shortly thereafter, captain Rasmus Dahlin unloaded a slapshot from the point that beat old teammate Linus Ullmark for a 2-0 Sabres edge.
The blue and gold opened the lead up to three in the second period of play. A dazzling passing play between Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka opened up the middle of the ice for Thompson to bury his 39th goal of the campaign.
Ottawa would respond 70-seconds later, and finally solved James Reimer. Veteran forward Claude Giroux scored from the slot to make it a 3-1 contest in the middle stanza.
Halfway through the third period of play, Peyton Krebs played the role of thief to extend the Sabres' lead to 4-1.
Former Sabres forward Dylan Cozens tried to pass east-to-west through the neutral zone, but Krebs was there to intercept the puck and skate the other direction for an important goal.
Just like Giroux's earlier goal, though, the Senators answered fast to keep themselves in the rearview. Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson made it a 4-2 contest just 23-seconds later.
With 2:39 left in regulation, though, Ryan McLeod put the Senators to bed. Despite being down six skaters to four with Bowen Byram serving a minor penalty and Ottawa emptying its net, McLeod nailed the vacated net to seal the 5-2 victory.
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SCORING RECAP:
First Period:
BUF: 8:38 - Alex Tuch (32) (Mattias Samuelsson, Jason Zucker); 11:51 - Rasmus Dahlin (14) (Jack Quinn)
OTT: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 12:36 - Tage Thompson (39) (JJ Peterka, Rasmus Dahlin)
OTT: 13:46 - Claude Giroux (15) (Tyler Kleven, Linus Ullmark)
Third Period:
BUF: 9:59 - Peyton Krebs (9) (Unassisted); 17:21 - Ryan McLeod (19) SH-ENG (Alex Tuch, Connor Clifton)
OTT: 10:22 - Jake Sanderson (9) (Michael Amadio, Artem Zub)
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STATS OF THE GAME
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Three Stars of the Game:
1. James Reimer - BUF
2. Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
3. Claude Giroux - OTT
What's Next:
The blue and gold are off until Saturday, April 5. That evening, the team will host the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.
