Make sure to follow Travis on Twitter and
Facebook!
--
The Ottawa Senators road woes came to a screeching halt on Tuesday night, as Paul MacLean's young team flew around the ice for sixty-minutes plus en route to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Two ugly turnovers aside, the Ottawa Senators were in control the majority of the night - a direct result of taking Buffalo skaters out of their element, as well as the crowd out of the game with Milan Michalek's opening goal at 1:09. For 9MM, it was his league-leading 19th tally of the season.
Buffalo's quick response - much to the chagrin of Paul MacLean - came in the form of gifts from the Ottawa blue line. Full marks to Buffalo for their sleek passing on the Paul Szczechura and Tyler Ennis goals, but a clean defensive game doesn't even allow the Buffalo forwards to get in tight on Craig Anderson like that.
The second period may have drawn scoreless, but it might've been Ottawa's biggest loss of the season to date. A collision between Erik Karlsson and Milan Michalek left every Ottawa Senators fan searching for his or her breath, and unfortunately, there appears to be some aftermath to the incident. Karlsson was able to shake it off, but Michalek did not return to the game, ruled out by the coaching staff with an upper body injury.
In the post-game presser, Paul MacLean said Michalek would be evaluated further tomorrow.
In the third period, a rocket from Peter Regin turned out to be the equalizer, with plenty of credit going the way of Nick Foligno for his impeccable positioning in front of Ryan Miller. Ottawa had regained plenty of the momentum heading into overtime, and after Colin Greening caved in the face of one Christian Ehrhoff as the third period expired, it seemed the tides had completely turned.
Really, the way Ehrhoff pounded Greening's fist with his face was something to behold. We'll have video of this later, no question.
Forty-five seconds into the extra five, Erik Karlsson fed Jared Cowen with another highlight-reel dime from the twenty-one year old blue liner. Karlsson's pass cut right through traffic with velocity, finding Jared Cowen's stick just outside of the crease for the eventual game winner.
A well deserved victory, no question about it. Usually, road teams try to hang around in games and strike late, but on Tuesday night, Ottawa appeared the better of the two on every shift. They out-shot Buffalo 44-29, won the majority of puck battles, and played two-way hockey with authority.
For Ottawa, it's a key road victory, especially considering the slide they were on coming into the game. Plenty of points had been given to the opposition over the past couple of weeks, and although Buffalo did grab the loser point, Ottawa has to leave First Niagara grinning from ear to ear.
The win could give this team some much-needed momentum as they continue on through an absolute gauntlet of games, too. Ottawa's next test comes tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins, who just pasted the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 at TD Garden.
Back with more later.
--
Thanks for reading!
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»