"This is it," said Buffalo Sabres goalie Craig Anderson after what he described as a perfect final game on Thursday against his former team, the Ottawa Senators.

After being drafted into the NHL twice, playing in 709 games across 22 seasons and winning 4-3 against the team he was part of for nine years on Thursday, Craig Anderson had one thing left to say postgame.

“This is it.”

The 41-year-old goaltender from Park Ridge, Ill., has announced his retirement from the NHL after one final season with the Buffalo Sabres. He stopped 30 of 33 shots in Thursday’s overtime win against the Ottawa Senators, giving him his 319th win.

Before the game, his sons, Jake and Levi, announced the starting lineup. And after Sabres winger Casey Mittelstadt ended the game with a blazing shot past Senators netminder Mads Sogaard, the team made a beeline toward Anderson to give him one big group hug. The crowd rose to their feet for a lengthy standing ovation as the Senators lined up to hug their former netminder and teammate and congratulate him.

After waving to the crowd and taking it all in, he skated to the corner doors where his wife, Nicholle, and two sons awaited him so they could share one special moment together. 

"It's the perfect story," Anderson told reporters after his NHL finale.

After being drafted 77th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1999 NHL draft, Anderson re-entered the draft in 2001 and went 73rd overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. He played for the Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres. 

In 2017, Anderson won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy after an emotional season where he temporarily left the Senators to be with Nicholle as she fought and eventually beat nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare form of throat cancer. 

One of his most memorable games came that season after Nicholle Anderson urged her husband to return to the team for an Oct. 30, 2016, road game against the Edmonton Oilers. No. 41 listened and turned aside all 37 shots he faced in a 2-0 win. It was an emotional moment for him, and even the Oilers crowd stood up to applaud him as the game's first star. Then-Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot stayed on the bench to join the ovation. Now with the Sens, Talbot got to congratulate him again on Thursday. 

Anderson ended up leading the Sens to the Eastern Conference final in 2017, where his wife told him she was cancer-free ahead of Game 7. 

While perhaps not a marquee name when compared to his counterparts, Anderson's numbers paint him as arguably one of the premier goaltenders of his era. In 709 career NHL games, Anderson walks away with a 319-275-73 record, along with 43 shutouts and an impressive .912 save percentage. His tenure in Ottawa, for instance, will be remembered as one of the more dominant in franchise history, as Anderson posted save percentages of .939, .914, .941, .911, .923, .916, and .926 between 2010 and 2017, finishing just outside the top-three in Vezina voting in 2012-13. 

As for what's next, it will likely involve him following his enthusiasm for racing with Anderson41 Motorsports and A41 eSports. And for a goaltender who seemingly only got better with age, it only makes sense that Anderson would drive off into the sunset as the NHL's oldest active player.