In one of the wildest games of the 2025-2026 season so far, the Ottawa Senators fell 8-4 to the Buffalo Sabres. Despite recently announcing that captain Brady Tkachuk would be out for the next month with an injured hand, the Senators saw tonight as a must-win game. Ottawa had already suffered some trouble and bad luck, losing 1-2-0, but the 0-3-0 Sabers looked unhappy and destined for a complete teardown of their team.
Related: 3 Senators who could replace Brady Tkachuk on the top line
Unfortunately, the Senators imploded without their captain, finding themselves in penalty trouble and struggling defensively. Rookie goalkeeper Leevi Merilainen looked shaky in his first start of the season, turning away 19 of 26 shots. At the other end, Alex Lyon turned away 32 shots, and Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod and Jason Zucker finished with two goals each.
Summary of the game
The match started off quite typically for both teams. For the fourth time this season, the Senators conceded the first goal of the game. On the power play, Quinn fired a wild one-timer that went high above the net but bounced off Merilainen’s back and into the net, giving Quinn his first of the season. The Senators came back, with Tim Stutzle banking in a big point shot from Fabian Zetterlund. The goal also gave Jordan Spence his first point as a Senator.
Although the score was tied, the Senators looked like the better team. They had chances, but just couldn’t finish. That changed early in the second period with a strong power play from Ottawa. Dylan Cozens drove the net with speed and almost caught Lyon with a turnover attempt, but the Sabers goalie caught him against the post with his skate. That led to a scramble in the crease before Jake Sanderson found the loose puck and narrowly pushed it through Lyon’s legs.
Then it all fell apart for Ottawa. First, McLeod and Zach Benson caught Merilainen out of position while short-handed, leading to a wide-open net goal. Then, three and a half minutes later, the Sabers caught the Senators flat-footed, and after Merilainen lost his stick, Alex Tuch fired one past the struggling netminder. A minute later, with no one around him for miles, Zucker scored on the power play. Two minutes later, Zucker scored his second of the night and third of the season on another power play goal.
The Senators had some luck to start the third period with goals from Shane Pinto and Lars Eller, his first with Ottawa, to close the score to 5-4. But the Sabers weren’t about to let their best chance at a win so far this season slip away. In less than a minute, McLeod and Quinn scored again to put the Sabers ahead 7-4 and almost out of reach of a comeback.
In an attempt to find some momentum, Merilainen was pulled with five minutes left, but the Sabers capitalized on a turnover, setting up Jiri Kulich for his first of the season with an empty-net goal. Ultimately, the game ended gracefully, with the Sabers taking home their first win of the season, 8-4 over the Senators, who posted a 1-3-0 record and had to address some serious issues before returning to the ice tomorrow night against the Seattle Kraken. The Sabers will have to wait until October 18 to see if they can turn their one win against the Florida Panthers into two.
#Sabers #beat #Senators #game #Tkachuk #Hockey #Writers #Ottawa #Senators #Latest #news #analysis