In one of the wildest games of the 2025-26 season so far, the Ottawa Senators fell 8-4 to the Buffalo Sabres. Despite recently announcing that captain Brady Tkachuk was out with an injured hand for the next month, the Senators viewed tonight as a must-win game. Ottawa had already faced some struggles and bad luck, going down 1-2-0, but the 0-3-0 Sabres looked hapless and destined for a full teardown of their team.
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Unfortunately, the Senators imploded without their captain, running into penalty trouble and struggling defensively. Rookie goalie Leevi Merilainen looked shaky throughout 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 apiece.
Game Recap
The game began fairly typically for both teams. For the fourth time this season, the Senators gave up the first goal of the game. While on the power play, Quinn fired a wild one-timer that went high above the net, but bounced into Merilainen’s back and into the net, giving Quinn his first of the season. The Senators rallied back, with Tim Stutzle tipping 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 were getting 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 nearly caught Lyon with a wrap-around attempt, but the Sabres’ goalie caught it with his skate against the post. That led to a scramble in the crease before Jake Sanderson found the loose puck and pushed it just barely 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 Sabres caught the Senators flat-footed, and after Merilainen lost his stick, Alex Tuch fired one past the struggling netminder. A minute after that, Zucker, with no one around him for miles, scored on the power play. Two minutes later, Zucker had his second of the night and third of the season on yet another power-play goal.
The Senators found a little 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 Sabres weren’t about to let their best shot at a win so far this season slip away. In less than a minute, McLeod and Quinn scored again to put the Sabres ahead 7-4 and nearly out of reach of a comeback.
In an effort to find some momentum, Merilainen was pulled with five minutes remaining, but the Sabres capitalized on a turnover, giving Jiri Kulich his first of the season on an empty-net goal. Finally, the game mercifully ended, with the Sabres taking home their first win of the season, 8-4 over the Senators, who go down to a 1-3-0 record and some serious issues to address before they return to the ice tomorrow night against the Seattle Kraken. The Sabres will have to wait until Oct. 18 before they see if they can turn their one win into two against the Florida Panthers.
