Sabres, Lehner blank Senators
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Robin Lehner made 37 saves and four different players scored to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
It was Lehner's first shutout of the season and the fourth of his career.
Kyle Okposo, Ryan O'Reilly, Sam Reinhart and Marcus Foligno scored for the Sabres (21-20-10), who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Mike Condon made 21 saves for Ottawa (27-17-6) before being pulled for Andrew Hammond midway through the third period.
Okposo capped a terrific start for Buffalo by opening the scoring midway through the first period. With two Senators trailing him, Okposo raced through the slot and placed a backhand shot to the top of the net at 10:11. It was his team-best 16th goal of the year.
The Senators dominated much of the second period, outshooting Buffalo 13-7, but fell behind 2-0 when O'Reilly doubled Buffalo's lead with 3:09 remaining in the period. O'Reilly redirected Rasmus Ristolainen's shot from the point for his 10th goal of the year.
Reinhart gave Buffalo a 3-0 lead 5:53 into the third period.
After Sabres center Jack Eichel won the puck in a battle on the end boards, Eichel found Reinhart at the top of the crease. Reinhart's first shot was stopped, but he showed patience on his follow-up, which went to the top corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season.
Foligno made it 4-0 with a quick shot to the short side with 9:09 remaining.
Lehner was solid between the pipes throughout. His best save came just before the end of the second period.
After a quality chance at the other end by Eichel, the Senators raced down the ice with an odd-man rush of their own. Lehner came far out of the crease to his right and robbed Senators left winger Mike Hoffman by stretching to make an acrobatic glove save.
Lehner also came up big on the penalty kill in the third period. Just under four minutes into the period, Lehner made two quick saves in succession on Senators center Derick Brassard from short range.
NOTES: Senators D Zach Bogosian (abdomen), LW William Carrier (knee) and D Taylor Fedun were scratched. Bogosian, one of Buffalo's top defenseman, was injured in Thursday's overtime loss to the New York Rangers after receiving a hit to the boards from rookie Jimmy Vesey. Carrier is expected to miss some time with a knee injury, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. ... RW Chris Neil, D Fredrik Claesson and G Craig Anderson were scratched for the Senators. ... This was the fourth of five meetings between the teams this season. Their final meeting takes place Feb. 14 in Ottawa.