Anderson makes 35 saves, Senators shut out Sabres

OTTAWA -- Craig Anderson made 35 saves, and the Ottawa Senators handed the Buffalo Sabres their 13th straight loss on the road, 4-0 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

It was Anderson's second shutout of the season and 42nd of his NHL career. He is second on the all-time Senators shutout list with 28, two behind Patrick Lalime (1999-2004).
"I've always said it since the start of the year: he's been facing so many shots every night," Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot said. "We've never made] it easy for him and he's always standing there and trying to do his best. … Last game, he won his first game in a while, and tonight getting a shutout, it's what he deserves. He's played so well all year."
***[WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Senators highlights]*
The Sabres have not won on the road since a 5-4 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 29 (0-11-2).
"We've got to hold each other accountable," Sabres forward Jack Eichel said. "It's critical mistakes that we just make every night. That's it. I mean, you watch the games; you see it. So I mean, everyone has to be better. This is the National Hockey League. [We've] got to be better, everyone, myself, everybody."
Brian Gibbons had a goal and an assist and Chabot had two assists for Ottawa (27-43-6), which won for the fifth time in 18 games (5-12-1).

"I thought we did a really good job of making plays and holding onto pucks and really winning those battles with the puck," Anderson said. "Getting out of our zone tonight was an outstanding job by our [defensemen], finding that next easy pass to support the puck. … Overall, we were out of our zone pretty quickly so we didn't spend a lot of time there, which usually tires us out."
Carter Hutton made 27 saves for Buffalo (31-36-9), which lost for the 11th time in 12 games (1-10-1).
"We're just giving up too much," Sabres forward Kyle Okposo said. "We gave up, what, two tap-ins, a power-play goal, and I can't even remember the first one. It's just a lack of respect for our own net. I didn't think we were ready to play tonight, and that's pretty inexcusable. … I'm running out of things to say."
The Senators and Sabres have already been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.
Anthony Duclair scored with a backhand shot at the edge of the crease to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 17:07 of the first period. Gibbons redirected a slap pass from Christian Jaros to make it 2-0 at 19:49.

Left alone in front of the net, Rudolfs Balcers tucked the puck under Hutton's right pad on the power play to make it 3-0 at 5:54 of the third period. Magnus Paajarvi one-timed a pass from Christian Wolanin into an open net to make it 4-0 at 7:24.
"This is the best league in the world," Okposo said. "And every time you get on the ice, whether you're a first-line guy, a fourth-line guy, a third-pairing [defenseman], a back-up goalie, you've got to respect the fact that you're in the National Hockey League, and you're fighting for jobs, you're fighting for your family, a lot of different things, and I just don't think that we have that sense of urgency every time that we step on the ice."

They said it

"We've got six games left. We've got to show some emotion, we've got to play. And that, tonight, was not good enough." -- Sabres forward Kyle Okposo
"Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but it was cool to obviously play in my first NHL game. My partner [Marco] Scandella made it easy to play with [him]; he talked to me a lot on the ice and he helped me out a lot." -- Sabres defenseman William Borgen, who had three hits in 14:54
"He's very strong with the puck. When he puts his mind to it and he protects the puck he's very difficult to get the puck off of. And that helps you in a lot of ways. One, it makes the opposition a little bit more fatigued. … He's got real good hands around the net and he's got a very, very hard shot. Those things end up being very good assets." -- Senators coach Marc Crawford on forward Anthony Duclair

Need to know

The Senators won the 500th home game in their history. … Ottawa defenseman Ben Harpur had a game-high and NHL career-high five shots. … Anderson is third on the list for shutouts by a United States-born goalie, behind Jonathan Quick (51) and Ryan Miller (44).

What's next

Sabres:Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Senators:Host the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, FS-F, NHL.TV)