OTTAWA, Ontario — The Buffalo Sabres will have to wait at least one more game to make hockey history after falling 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, postponing their chance to end an NHL-record 14-season absence from the playoffs.
The loss extends Buffalo’s wait to conclude what stands as the second-longest active championship drought among North America’s four major professional sports leagues, trailing only the New York Jets’ 15-year playoff absence.
Lars Eller provided the decisive moment when he redirected a point shot from defenseman Artem Zub past Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at the 5:55 mark of the final period, snapping a 1-1 deadlock.
The scoring began when Buffalo’s Mattias Samuelsson fired a long wrist shot into the net 8:49 into the second period. Ottawa responded as Dylan Cozens evened the score with 4:42 remaining in the middle frame, tipping in his 26th goal of the campaign.
Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto each found the empty net late in the game to seal Ottawa’s victory.
Between the pipes, Linus Ullmark turned away 21 shots for the Senators, who currently hold the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference and began a five-game home stretch. Luukkonen made 20 saves in the losing effort for Buffalo.
Ottawa faced defensive challenges as Tyler Kleven departed in the opening period due to an upper-body injury and could not return. The Senators continue to deal with a depleted blue line, already missing Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Nick Jensen and several other defenders.
The game featured a first-period scuffle between Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk and Logan Stanley.
Buffalo’s next opportunity comes Saturday night when they visit Washington, while Ottawa will host Minnesota on Saturday.
