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The Buffalo Sabres responded from a slow start and early penalty trouble in a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Key Bank Center on Tuesday. The game marked the return of former Sabre Dylan Cozens, who assisted on Brady Tkachuk’s opening power-play goal, but after responding twice to Ottawa goals, Tage Thompson scored the game-winner early in the third period, and the Sabres held on for their second straight victory with backup James Reimer in goal.
Cozens and Dennis Gilbert (who was scratched for the game) received a video tribute and applause from the crowd, but his setup of Tkachuk was his high point of the evening, as he finished -2 on the night in just over 17 minutes. The Sabres response had an ironic feel to it, as Ottawa native Jack Quinn tied the game in the first after a JJ Peterka goal was ruled offsides, and former Sen Jacob Bernard-Docker tied the game with his first in a Buffalo uniform.
The win also marked a milestone for head coach Lindy Ruff, who notched his 600th victory with the Sabres.
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"I've been blessed to have unbelievable opportunity and the support throughout the years from different owners, different GMs, from the Knox family, and the ownership after that, Darcy (Regier) as the GM, and all through the years," Ruff said after the game. "(This season) is like driving in a car you haven't driven for a while, maybe a little bit of an older car, but you get under the hood and you get to look at it, you get to feel what you need to get the car running really good. I'm a guy that, from day one is always think I can fix everything, and I haven't been able to fix everything this year. It's been a disappointment for me from day one."
The Sabres moved to 29-35-6 with the win and have been playing better of late, but the club has never been able to recover from the disastrous downturn in late November and December, when they went 0-10-3 during a 13-game winless skid. Since then, Buffalo has taken permanent residence at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
“If we could take the 13 games out of the season, just split that in half, because before we got to the 13 games, we were like 11-9-2. The games after that were three or four games over .500. That segment of games killed our club and I feel personally responsible. There were games that were right there that could have turned it and got it the other way, and we didn't get it done," Ruff said. "(I) really want to get this right."
The veteran bench boss has a year remaining on a two-year deal, and based on his comments after the game and the fact that he is seven wins away from 900 career victories, it is almost a guarantee he will be returning next season.
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