Eichel leads Sabres to victory in return
OTTAWA -- Center Jack Eichel made an immediate impact upon his return to the Buffalo Sabres lineup, scoring one goal and assisting on another in a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.
Eichel, the second overall pick of the 2015 entry draft, missed the first 21 games of the season with a high ankle sprain suffered on the eve of the opener.
Center Ryan O'Reilly scored twice and wingers Kyle Okposo and Sam Reinhart had the other goals for the Sabres, who connected three times on the power play.
The lost spoiled the hat trick performance by Senators winger Mike Hoffman. Mark Stone had the other Ottawa goal.
The teams exchanged goals in the third period. O'Reilly converted off a scramble at the 16:43 mark with Senators captain Erik Karlsson in the box. Hoffman completed his hat trick on the power play at the 18:29 mark on the power play.
The Senators lost winger Bobby Ryan in the first period when he aggravated a deep bone bruise in his hand. The Senators also lost defenseman Mark Methot in the second.
Craig Anderson made 23 saves in the Senators net.
Buffalo goalie Anders Nilsson made 26 saves after entering the game to replace Robin Lehner, who left with 2:12 to go in the first period. Lehner stopped five of six shots before departing.
No immediate update was available for either player.
After two 2-1 games between the teams earlier this month, both sides opened up Tuesday as Buffalo led 4-3 after 40 minutes.
The Sabres opened the scoring on the power play when Eichel slid a pass through the slot to Okposo, whose follow up feed to the front went in off the skate of Senators defenseman Cody Ceci.
Eichel made it 2-0 with Buffalo again enjoying a man-advantage at the 9:31 mark when O'Reilly sent a short pass to Eichel at the top of the left wing face-off circle, and his quick, hard shot beat Anderson on the short side.
The Senators got one back at 13:47 of the first when Hoffman feasted on a rebound after Lehner had made a left pad save off Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki, who earned his first point of the season.
But O'Reilly restored the lead 33 seconds later by jumping on a juicy rebound of his own then pulling the puck to his backhand and roofing a shot under the bar.
The Sabres outshot the Senator 14-7 in the first.
Stone scored on the power play at 8:20 of the second period when he was the only one to find the puck after Hoffman had taken a shot that hit Turris in front.
The Senators appeared to tie the game at 16:10 of the second when a shot by defenseman Dion Phaneuf found the back of the net. But the goal was waved off when it was ruled winger Chris Neil and interfered with Nilsson.
Evander Kane set a pass from the sideboards to the front of the net that went in off Reinhart's skate at 17:08. But Hoffman scored his second at 17:51, taking a pass from defenseman Erik Karlsson and tipping the puck in the open side, to cut into the lead again.
NOTES: Senators G Craig Anderson is expected to leave the team in the next day or two to be with his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment. Senators G Andrew Hammond has been recalled from Binghamton and will dress as backup to G Mike Condon when Anderson leaves. ... Senators D Fredrik Claesson and F Max McCormick were scratched. ... Sabres W Will Carrier, who was recalled from Rochester a day earlier, started as the left winger on the first line. ... Sabres D Zach Bogosian missed his 13th game with an MCL sprain. ... Sabres D Dmitry Kulikov remains week-to-week with a back injury.