Sabres score three in second, hand Senators fifth straight loss

BUFFALO -- Benoit Pouliot, Kyle Okposo and Evander Kane scored in the second period to help the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.
Pouliot and Okposo gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead with goals 1:12 apart. Robin Lehner made 24 saves (8-17-6).

\[WATCH: All Senators vs. Sabres highlights\]
Cody Ceci and Derick Brassard scored in the third period, and Mike Condon made 22 saves for Ottawa (9-13-7), which went 1-5-1 on its seven-game road trip. The Senators have lost five straight games and 12 of their past 13 (1-10-2).
"Same story as a lot of the games," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "We got our scoring chances, we don't bury them and then they come on our side and get theirs and they put them in."

Pouliot received a pass from Marco Scandella and stick-handled past Brassard and scored on a backhand shot at 4:13 of the second period.
"I stepped up and I kind of had my head down too, so I could've got rocked pretty good there. But I saw him at the last second and then luckily for me the puck went through," Pouliot said. "It wasn't the heaviest shot in the world, but it got through so I'll take that all day."
Okposo made it 2-0 at 5:25 when he took a pass from Ryan O'Reilly and scored on a wrist shot for his second goal in the past three games.

"It's nice to finally get rewarded for that," Okposo said. "I think Ryan and I have obviously not been where we want to be offensively. I thought we had a better game tonight."
Kane scored a power-play goal at 12:33 of the second when he took a one-timer after a pass from Rasmus Ristolainen to make it 3-0. The goal extended Kane's point streak to give games (two goals, three assists).
The Sabres, who entered the game with the 30th-ranked power play in the League (12.5 percent), have scored a goal with the man-advantage in three straight games.
"You look at the rut we were in early, a power-play goal probably gets us three or four more wins, but it didn't," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I'll give a hand to them, they stuck with it."
Ceci made it 3-1 at 6:43 of the third period when he collected a rebound of his own shot that went off the post.
Brassard scored at 19:08 with Condon pulled for an extra skater to make it 3-2.

"We haven't truly found the way that we want to play hockey, both as individuals and a team right now, and that's the way things are going for us," Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. "And it's up to us in here to find a solution and find a way out of that, and we're trying everything we can to do that even though today again was not our best effort and definitely not the result that we want."

Goal of the game

Kane's goal at 12:33 of the second period.

Save of the game

Condon's pad save against Jason Pominville at 10:15 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Pouliot's goal at 4:13 of the second period.

#

They said it

"It's been a tough road trip for us. I think it's time for us to go home and regroup and play in front of our fans. I'm not really sure what to say here. It's not what we want, but at the end of the day there's not easy games in the NHL, there's always some good teams and that got proved tonight." -- Senators center Derick Brassard
"We have to worry about our own fate and what we're doing here. We needed this win here tonight not only for our fans, but the guys inside that room. It was really important we got this one tonight. It's a divisional game, been a heated rivalry, some good physical play on our part. It was good to see we could get a win for our fans." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley

Need to know

Boucher said Senators forward Bobby Ryan was fine after he left the game with less than five minutes left in the third period after a hit by Jordan Nolan. … Lehner is 5-0-2 in nine career games against the Senators with a 1.39 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage.

What's next

Senators: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, MSG, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (NBCSP, MSG-B, NHL.TV)