Senators come up short to Sabres in overtime

The Ottawa Senators fell just short on Thursday night as the team lost 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime.

Scoring opened at 7:55 in the first period when forward Noah Gregor received the puck in the Senators’ end and carried it all the way into the Sabres end, ripping it past goaltender Felix Sandstrom to make it 1-0 for the Senators. The assist on the goal went to defenceman Carter Yakemchuk.

Going down early in the first didn’t discourage the Sabres, who doubled down on the Senators with a barrage of shots. Goaltender Linus Ullmark, who was making his preseason and Senators debut, stood tall. The Sabres finished the period with 24 shots on goal opposed to Ottawa’s five. Ullmark saved 23 of those 24 shots to keep the game at 1-1 after the first frame.

In the second period, both teams were held off the scoresheet, as Buffalo added nine more shots to their game total while the Senators doubled theirs with another five. Linus Ullmark finished the game halfway through the second period as planned prior, with fellow goaltender Dustin Tokarski coming into the game in relief. Ullmark finished the game with a .966% save percentage after stopping 28 of 29 shots.

“It’s weird at first, but then once you have the jersey on, you feel a sense of pride,” Ullmark said of his Senators debut. “I got a lot of excitement out of it.”

Just over halfway through the third period at 11:46, forward Adam Gaudette broke the tie on the powerplay, with assists going to forward Tyler Boucher and Carter Yakemchuk, his second of the game.

“I thought I got off to a little bit of a slow start, but I thought as the game went on, I got better every shift,” Yakemchuk spoke after the game. “I was pretty happy with my game overall.”

Buffalo sustained their pressure against the Senators and tied the game with under a minute left in the third period to send it to overtime. Despite a couple good looks on offence, the Senators were unable to find the back of the net as the Sabres netted the game-winner two minutes into overtime.

The Senators will look to bounce back from tonight’s loss on Sunday as the team travels to Sudbury to face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in this year’s Kraft Hockeyville game that will benefit the town of Elliot Lake. The game will take place on Sunday with an 7:00 p.m. ET puck drop.

Before the team heads to Sudbury, they will be at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday for the Senators’ annual Fan Fest event, which fans can claim their free tickets for HERE.

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