Eichel scores four goals, Sabres top Senators to end winless streak

BUFFALO -- Jack Eichel scored four goals, and the Buffalo Sabres ended a six-game winless streak with a 4-2 victory against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Sam Reinhart had two assists for Buffalo (10-6-3), which was 0-4-2 in its previous six games. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves.
"I just think for us to win, we have to play a little bit cleaner of a game, but it's good to get out of a little hole that we were in there and find a way to get two points," Eichel said.
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Sabres highlights]
The Sabres were without injured defenseman Zach Bogosian (hip), and forwards Johan Larsson (upper body), Vladimir Sobotka (lower body) and Marcus Johansson (upper body).
"Tonight was going to be a grind, we knew that," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "We definitely, with the injuries, needed our best players to step up, and Jack showed a world-class performance today and just excellent leadership that I also told you he's been showing, as I've told you, in the adversity of the last few weeks. It's really probably the fruit of all that attitude that he's had, [it] came out in the goals tonight."

Anthony Duclair and Tyler Ennis scored, and Craig Anderson made 28 saves for Ottawa (8-11-1), which had won five of six.
"I thought we played hard, I really did," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "I really liked our second period, start to the third period. That's what special players do sometimes. I thought [Anderson] was really good; those are big-time goals that [Eichel] scored. We're just going to move on. But I thought we worked hard."
Eichel gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 1:28 of the second period. After Rasmus Dahlin forced a turnover in the defensive zone, Reinhart took a hit along the right wall to get the puck up to Eichel, who scored top shelf.
Duclair tied it 1-1 with a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Logan Brown at 6:04. The goal came moments after a 5-on-3 man-advantage expired.

Eichel scored off the rush from the high slot at 9:39 of the second period to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.
Ennis tied it 2-2 at 2:01 of the third when he deflected a point shot from Ron Hainsey.
But Eichel completed the hat trick with a shot from the left circle at 12:13 to make it 3-2 and then scored into an empty net with 14 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.
"I don't honestly know," Eichel said when asked if he ever remembered scoring four goals in a game. "I never had four at [Boston University] or the [U.S. National Team Development] program, so probably back in my Junior Bruins days. It's been a while."

They said it

"We knew he was a player coming into this. But you see what kind of release he has, what kind of a shot he has, he can find himself lanes, he's big, he's strong, he gets up and down the ice. He's the kind of player skill-wise you build your team around, and unfortunately we didn't do a good enough job containing him." -- Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki
"He played well, obviously. He's a tough guy to contain. He's got tremendous speed, obviously. He's got unreal skill. When he's coming down with speed, it's pretty difficult for the opposition to stop [him]. Tonight, he got some big ones for us." -- Sabres forward Jeff Skinner on center Jack Eichel

Need to know

The Senators scored a power-play goal in consecutive games for the first time this season. … Ottawa is 2-7-1 on the road. … Sabres forward Kyle Okposo left the game at 8:42 of the second period with an undisclosed injury. Krueger said he is day to day. … Eichel, who leads the Sabres with 12 goals, is the seventh different Sabres player to score four in a game, joining Rick Martin (four times), Dave Andreychuk (three times), Alexander Mogilny (twice), Lindy Ruff, Miroslav Satan and Thomas Vanek. … Olofsson extended his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).

What's next

Senators: At the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET, FS-D, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCH, MSG-B, NHL.TV)