Senators Postgame: Sens Beat Sabres, Kleven Leaves Early
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Talk about a gutsy effort. With an already depleted defensive group, the Senators lost yet another d-man tonight as Tyler Kleven left early in the first with an upper body injury. Having lost three in a row, the Senators fought from down 1-0 against the red hot Buffalo Sabres to win this game 4-1. Let’s dive into the details.
Blue Line Blues
This is absolutely ridiculous at this point. The likes of Sanderson, Chabot, Jensen and Gilbert are already out. Tonight, it was Tyler Kleven leaving after taking a shot high early in the first. He played just under two minutes and did not return. Keep in mind, Kleven has been eating monster minutes, averaging just under 26 minutes per game over the last five games coming into tonight.
Kleven was also their only left shot defenseman in their lineup tonight, leaving them with five right shot d-men to play the rest of the game. That included Cameron Crotty in his first game of the season with the Senators. Crotty, did a good job in his 13:37 of ice-time. Make no mistake about it, though, the Senators desperately need both Kleven and Sanderson to return as soon as possible.
Fantastic Team Defense
The Sabres average over 3.4 goals per game, good for seventh best in the NHL. Despite all the injuries to the backend mentioned above, the Sens were able to hold the Sabres to just one goal. They also gave up just 22 shots, and only seven shots in the third. Linus Ullmark, coming off a rough game against the Panthers where he was pulled after giving up five goals in the first period, was great tonight. Jordan Spence deserves plenty of praise, too. He played just under 31 minutes tonight. The forwards were a big help, too, prioritizing the defensive side of the ice after that awful Panthers game.
Dylan Cozens’ Big Night
Of all the forwards, Cozens was certainly the standout. He scored the game-tying goal late in the second, his 26th of the season. He ended up with a game high six shots and added four hits. Of course, this all came against his former team. Maybe this is what Cozens needed to get going. Coming into tonight, he had just two goals and three points in his last 12 games.
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