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Tage Thompson scores twice as Sabres beat Senators 5-3

Jan 11, 2024 | 8:30 PM

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored two goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs and Dylan Cozens also scored for the Sabres, who have won three of four. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves.

Claude Giroux had two goals for the Senators, who have lost five straight. Vladimir Tarasenko also scored.

Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves after replacing the injured Anton Forsberg in net for Ottawa. Forsberg stopped six of seven shots before he was injured late in the first period while attempting a kick save. He needed assistance getting off the ice and to the locker room.

Peterka opened the scoring midway through the first period following a strong setup by Cozens, who skated around Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom in the right circle to set up Peterka’s 13th goal of the season.

Tarasenko tied the game at 1-1 with 4:54 left in the first on a long shot from the point with traffic in front of the Buffalo net. It was his 600th career point.

Thompson then put the Sabres in control with back-to-back goals, the first on a wrist shot to the blocker side with 2:32 left in the first. He scored again just over two minutes later, firing a hard wrist shot into the top corner of the net to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead.

Krebs made it 4-1 in the second on a give-and-go passing sequence with Eric Robinson. Krebs ended up with an open net for his third goal of the season.

Giroux made it 4-2 33 seconds into the third, flipping a loose puck into the net with a backhand shot.

Giroux picked up his second of the game with 8:45 remaining on a low slap shot to cut Buffalo’s lead to 4-3.

Cozens added an empty-netter for Buffalo with 3 seconds remaining.

UP NEXT

Senators: Begin a four-game homestand on Saturday against San Jose.

Sabres: Host Vancouver on Saturday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Mark Ludwiczak, The Associated Press