Three Thoughts: Penalty kill leads Sens to win in Buffalo
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Simply put, the Sens' penalty kill won them the game while Tyler Ennis, against the team that drafted him, tallied his 200th career assist, as Three Thoughts details.
Penalty kill superb
Yes, the Senators gave up a power play goal last night.
But, the other five they killed off were single-handedly the reason the Sens left Buffalo with two points.
"Our penalty kill wins us the game tonight," Senators head coach D.J. Smith said.
After the Sens couldn't convert on the man advantage early on - John Hayden was given the instigator after a fight with Austin Watson at 2:57 of the first - the Sens headed to the penalty kill twice after Erik Brannstrom and Dylan Gambrell were penalized but successfully kept the Sabres at bay.
They were undone on their third kill of the period as Kyle Okposo scored after he was wide open on the right wing and beat Forsberg with a nifty deke.
The Senators took three more penalties in the second period but held firm as they kept the Sabres off the scoresheet. The Sens played a clean third period as they got a timely goal from Watson to secure the two points.
"Penalty killing starts with your goaltender," Watson said. "When your goaltender is making all of the saves it lends a lot of confidence to the killers in front of him.
"We'd like to not kill that much but we got the job done."
Ottawa owns the fourth best penalty kill in the NHL since Jan. 2 at 86.3 per cent where they have killed off 44 of 51 penalties. Over that time frame, Forsberg, Filip Gustavsson and Matt Murray have combined to make 86 saves on the penalty kill.
Enzo shines with 200th career assist
You knew Tyler Ennis would put on a show in Buffalo.
The former Sabre, who was the 26th overall pick in 2008, tallied the 200th assist of his NHL career in impressive fashion as he beautifully found Zach Sanford with a perfect pass through Rasmus Sandin to get Ottawa level in the second period.
"That was a nice pass by him," Sanford said of Ennis. "He's had quite a few of those this year. I see him with the puck and I just tried to get to the net and he put it right on my stick."
Thursday was the 685th game of Ennis' career. In addition to his 200 helpers, the Edmonton native has 141 NHL goals.
He also clearly enjoys playing against his former team; in three games this year he had a hat-trick and an assist while over the course of his career, he has seven goals and 11 points in 11 games versus the Sabres, his best point-per-game average against any opponent.
Holden crucial in win
Nick Holden was crucial in Thursday's win.
The veteran defenceman played a season high 25:15 and notched two assists in the process. His time on ice was the most he's played in a game in almost four years; he played 25:31 on March 23, 2018, as a member of the Boston Bruins in a 3-2 loss to Dallas.
"At the end of the day, I thought Holdy was probably our best defenceman tonight," Smith said.
His 5:36 on the penalty kill last night led all Senators skaters while he also blocked two shots.
It was his point shot that Watson tipped home for the game-winner while he collected a second assist on Brady Tkachuk's empty-net goal.
"Holdy's awesome," Watson said. "For Holdy to get a couple of points out of it, I'm sure that's not what he's going into the game thinking, but he does a lot for us. He moves the puck well, he shoots it slow enough to tip, he has a very tippable shot, so he can create some offence for us and he's a real calming presence back there.
In 41 games this year, Holden has three goals and 10 points. His 19:43 a night is the fourth most on the Sens while his 60 blocks rank third.
