2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Ottawa Senators overpower the Buffalo Sabres 4-2
The 94th game of the NHL regular season saw the Buffalo Sabres play the Ottawa Senators at home. The match took place at the HSBC Arena, home of the Buffalo Sabres this Friday. There were around 18,000 fans that came to witness the match which
saw the Ottawa Senators play their 7th and the Buffalo Sabres play the 8th game of the regular season thus far. It was a close battle until the very end which saw the Senators emerge victorious.
1st Period
The game had a slow start as both teams were content on keeping the defence stronger rather than going on the attack from the start. The Buffalo Sabres hit 2 shots at the start that could have found the net but just went wide.
The first part of the period didn’t see much happen as both teams sat back waiting for opportunities to come their way. However, soon a change in strategy was observed. Both teams decided that they would make chances for themselves rather than waiting. Adopting
an attacking mentality both teams started to come across goal-scoring opportunities.
It was the Ottawa Senators who was the first to score and take the lead much to the disappointment of the home fans. The Ottawa Senators scored through Captain Daniel Alfredsson who scored from a simple tip in 10 feet away from goal in the 11thminute.
The home team responded this by attacking too. They came across a chance that could have levelled the score but they didn’t score. However, the Sabres managed to score a goal in the 14th minute through Tim Connolly. The goal was a result of a
splendid 59 feet power shot. There was nothing else during the course of the period as the teams went into the break with the score 1-1.
During the period, the Buffalo Sabres made 4 goal attempts and the Ottawa Senators made 13 goal attempts with each team scoring a single goal.
2nd Period
The Ottawa Senators started the period strongly and managed to score in the 4th minute to take the lead. The goal was scored by Ryan Shannon who scored from a fabulous shot that was hit 13 feet away from goal.
Taking the lead, the Ottawa Senators pressed for another goal but when they were caught on a counter attack, the Buffalo Sabres scored in the 5th to level things once again. The goal was scored by Tim Connolly, who bagged his 2nd goal
of the match with a shot that was hit 51 feet away from goal.
The away team was adamant on winning the game and the determination they showed resulted in them scoring in the 11th minute to take the lead one more time. The goal was scored by Daniel Alfredsson once again who scored from a powerful shot from
51 feet this time.
The period ended with no further goals with the score 3-2 in favour of the Ottawa Senators. During the period, the Buffalo Sabres scored one goal out of the 12 goal attempts and the Ottawa Senators scored 2 goals out of the 14 goal attempts they made.
3rd Period
The last period was very entertaining for the home fans as their cherished team dominated play and fired shots every now and then. They displayed excellent skill while passing and shooting. But it just wasn’t their night as they couldn’t score during the
period.
From the start of the period, the defence was perfect and the offence was different from the start but very effective.
The Ottawa Senators started to make chances after the 18th minute. Creating most of the chances during the last minutes, the Ottawa Senators sealed the win when they scored in the 19th minute to win the match 4-2. The goal was scored
by Daniel Alfredsson who completed his hat-trick. The period saw the Ottawa Senators score 1 goal out of the 5 goal attempts whereas the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t score any goal out of the 20 goal attempts they made.
"I don't know what it is, to be honest," Alfredsson said. "We respect (the Sabres) tremendously, and they are always tough to play against. I think because we respect them so much, we do well."
"You couldn't write a better script," Ottawa oach Cory Clouston said. "He was our best player tonight. We need him to step up like he did."
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