At the Horn | Senators 4 - Sabres 1

The Buffalo Sabres fell to the Ottawa Senators 4-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Buffalo entered the night in position to clinch a playoff berth with a victory. The team’s magic number is one, meaning there will be another chance to clinch on Saturday in Washington.

Mattias Samuelsson scored for the Sabres to break a 0-0 tie midway through the second period, but the Senators responded with goals from Dylan Cozens and Lars Eller. Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto added empty-net goals.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves on 22 shots.

The loss dropped the Sabres to second place in the Atlantic Division behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won Thursday. The Sabres and Lightning are tied in the points column, but the Lightning have played one fewer game and thus own the tiebreaker.

Statistics

Scoring summary

BUF 1 – OTT 0 | Period 2, 8:49 – Mattias Samuelsson (13) from Bowen Byram (28) and Peyton Krebs (26)

BUF 1 – OTT 1 | Period 2, 15:18 – Dylan Cozens (26) from Brady Tkachuk (32) and Ridly Greig (19)

BUF 1 – OTT 2 | Period 3, 5:55 – Lars Eller (5) from Artem Zub (23) and Warren Foegele (4)

BUF 1 – OTT 3 | Period 3, 17:42 (EN) – Ridly Greig (12) unassisted

BUF 1 – OTT 4 | Period 3, 18:42 (EN) – Shane Pinto (20) unassisted

Photo gallery

Up next

The Sabres visit the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.