Lehner leads Sabres over Sens
OTTAWA -- Robin Lehner continued his mastery over his old team as the Buffalo Sabres came from behind to defeat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.
Lehner made 39 saves in the Sabres net to improve his record to 4-0-2 against the Senators, who drafted him in 2009 and traded him to Buffalo in 2015.
Ryan O'Reilly, Matt Moulson and Justin Bailey scored for the Sabres.
Bobby Ryan and Dion Phaneuf had the Senators goals.
Making his second start in two months, Senators goalie Craig Anderson made 22 saves.
The Sabres overcame a 2-1 deficit with consecutive goals early in the third. Moulson picked up his 12th of the season at the 51 second mark of the third, banging in a loose puck after Jack Eichel drove to the net and Sam Reinhart was denied.
Bailey put Buffalo ahead when he deflected a point shot by Jake McCabe at the 7:38 mark. It was his second of the season.
It took the Sabres just 24 seconds to start the scoring with O'Reilly's 12th of the season. It was set up by Kyle Okposo, who carried the puck into the Senators' zone and fed a short pass for O'Reilly to one-time just over Anderson's glove.
The Senators evened the count at the 14:45 mark of the first period when Ryan deflected an Erik Karlsson point shot between Lehner's legs for his 12th of the campaign.
Phaneuf put the Senators ahead at 14:33 of the second period with his eighth. After carrying the puck the length of the ice and feeding it to Ryan, he continued to the net and was there to bang in a rebound off the shot.
NOTES: Sabres LW Evander Kane was scratched due to an illness. ... Senators D Chris Wideman was scratched with an undisclosed injury or illness. ... Senators RW Curtis Lazar was scratched for the fourth consecutive game and fifth time in the last seven. ... Senators RW Chris Neil returned after spending the previous two games in the press box as a healthy scratch. ... Sabres D Taylor Fedun was scratched. ... Sabres D Zach Bogosian returned after missing six games with a rib injury.