Ottawa, ON – Craig Anderson stopped 42 shots to notch his second shutout of the season and 21st of his career, as the Ottawa Senators blanked the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0, on Tuesday at Scotiabank Place.
Erik Karlsson and Erik Condra each scored once for the Senators, who had lost two straight and four of their last five coming in.
Ryan Miller stopped 29-of-31 shots in Buffalo's second consecutive setback.
"We can't put ourselves in that position," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of his team giving up eight power plays. "It's too much ice time."
After a scoreless first period, the Sabres had a prime opportunity to register the game's first goal after Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot was whistled for tripping at the 13:53 mark of the second, but it was Ottawa who broke through on the penalty kill.
Milan Michalek came up with a loose puck near the red line and carried it down the left wing before sliding a pass to the right circle for Karlsson, who rifled a shot past Miller to make it 1-0 at the 15:20 mark.
Ottawa added to its lead just under two minutes later when Condra pounded in a rebound off a Sergei Gonchar blast from the right point to make it 2-0 with 2:46 left in the second.
Anderson was tested mightily in the final frame, but the Ottawa netminder turned away all 15 shots he faced to keep the shutout intact.
"It was just great to get the two points," Anderson said. "The guys in front are doing a great job of boxing out and cleaning up any mess in front and allowed me to see the puck most of the time."
Game Notes
Buffalo center Jochen Hecht appeared in 800th career game, while defenseman Jordan Leopold played in his 600th career game ... Ottawa has won five of the last six matchups against Buffalo, including a 4-2 decision in Ottawa on Feb. 5 ... Ottawa finished 0-for-8 on the power play, while Buffalo failed on all four of its tries with the man advantage.
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