Ottawa Senators Explode for Early 5-0 Lead, Cruise to 6-2 Victory in Buffalo

Shane Pinto had 4 points, Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves, and the Senators won their third game in a row.

Sometimes in the NHL, all you need is a good start.

The Ottawa Senators not only started well on Wednesday night, they had one of the best starts of any NHL team all season. The Senators grabbed a 5-0 first-period lead and defeated the Sabres in Buffalo, 6-2. Shane Pinto led the way for Ottawa with four points.

The Senators scored the fastest four goals to start a game in the NHL all season, taking a 4-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game.

The best teams in the league win with their depth. On Wednesday night, the Senators were led by their fourth line who got the quick start rolling with two goals.

Mark Kastelic redirected a Boris Katchouk shot that trickled through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, landing on the goal line. Artem Zub poked it home to give the Senators a 1-0 lead, 2:37 into the game.

On the next shift for the fourth line, they created pressure in the Buffalo end, creating a turnover. Parker Kelly fired a wrist shot that Katchouk tipped in to extend the Senators' lead.

Less than a minute later, the Senators' top lines got busy. Drake Batherson found himself all alone in front, waited out Luukkonen, and calmly slid the puck in with a silky backhand move to make it 3-0 Senators, just 6:01 into the game.

The onslaught continued when Jakob Chychrun unloaded a rocket to end Luukkonen’s night as the boo-birds in Buffalo rang out. The Senators were sitting high and mighty with a 4-0 lead 8:59 into the game.

They continued to suffocate the Sabres in the first period, creating chance after chance, demonstrating all the talent and dominance that people expected from this group all season.

The first period shooting gallery closed out with Thomas Chabot placing a beautiful pass onto the stick of a net-front Brady Tkachuk who shoved the puck, five-hole, past Devon Levi. 

After getting booked off the ice, Buffalo finally showed up in the second period, pushing back with goals from JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton to cut the Senators lead to 5-2.

For the rest of the second period, Buffalo had the majority of the play and had multiple chances to cut the lead to 5-3 to really frighten the Senators, but Korpisalo stood tall to end any comeback attempt from the Sabres. Korpisalo made 36 saves in the winning effort and it will be interesting to see if keeps the net in a back to back scenario again, as he did on Sunday.

Shane Pinto scored an empty netter to seal the win, and ended the night with 4 points, to improve to 25 points in 30 games.

The Senators come home to play Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

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