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Senators get revenge against Sabres

Feb 25, 2007 - 5:44 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Jason Spezza and the Ottawa Senators got revenge in a highly-anticipated rematch with the Buffalo Sabres.

Spezza scored his second goal of the game with 4:07 remaining in the third period to lift the Senators to a 6-5 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Sabres.

Ottawa, which lost its conference semifinal series with Buffalo in five games last postseason, won the season series, 5-2-1, but still trail the Sabres by 11 points in the Northeast Division.

"We came out tough, and even though we lost a 4-1 lead, we came out with two points. At the end of the day, that's all that matters," Spezza said. "We knew at the start of the game that we really had to win this one. Those two points are important for us in the race to win the East."

The Senators avenged Thursday's wild 6-5 shootout loss to the Sabres, a contest which featured numerous brawls, the ejection of three players and a fine levied against Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff.

After the Sabres scored twice in less than 4 1/2 minutes in the third to forge a 5-5 tie, Spezza cashed in during a power play at 15:53 thanks to a fortunate bounce.

Defenseman Wade Redden started the play, dumping the puck behind the Buffalo net from the left point. Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller attempted to play it, but the puck instead bounced in front to Spezza, who shot it into a vacant net to put Ottawa ahead.

"Redden rims it and their guy tries to clear it, but it goes off (Dany) Heatley's stick and right into the slot," Spezza said. "So I was happy to be able to get a good whack at it. It was a pretty lucky goal."

"The puck came off a guy's stick and it came off the boards in the air," Miller said. "It passed me and (defenseman Henrik Tallinder), then almost passed Heatley. It hit something and went right out front. It was a bad break."

Heatley had a goal and two assists, Redden and Mike Fisher each set up a pair of tallies and Ray Emery made 31 saves for the Senators, who have won six of seven.

Heatley, who extended his points streak to seven games, collected eight goals and 10 assists in the season series against Buffalo.

"It was similar (to Thursday's game), but this time we had the lead on them and they came back," Heatley said. "Thursday, we came back to win it in a shootout. Tonight, we had to be on our game and never quit because they kept coming at us. There was a lot of animosity, even before this game. There seems to be a fight every game we play them. That's just the way it's been against them."

Tallinder scored twice and Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which lost for just the second time in eight games.

"I thought we played one (heck) of a hockey game," Ruff said. "Considering how young we were and the atmosphere that was surrounding this game, I thought we showed up and played hard. I was so impressed with the way we played."

After captain Daniel Alfredsson gave Ottawa a 5-3 lead at 2:34 of the third period when he poked Peter Schaefer's pass past Miller, Buffalo answered when Vanek, who failed on a penalty-shot attempt early in the second, jammed a loose puck between Emery's skate and the left goalpost at 7:11.

Tallinder tied the game with 8:25 to go, when his slap shot from the blue line beat a screened Emery, capping his his first career multi-goal performance.

"It was very exciting as it has never happened," Tallinder said. "I got a couple of good passes and an open net on the first one, so it was hard to miss there. The second one was a great pass by Danny (Briere). I had some patience there to have a look and I shot it where I thought it was open."

Things were a bit calmer in this one as opposed to Thursday's slugfest. Buffalo enforcer Andrew Peters and Ottawa tough guy Brian McGrattan squared off early in the second period, while Adam Mair and Chris Neil, whose hit on Chris Drury two days earlier ignited the brawls, battled later in the session.

"It was great," said McGrattan, who was a scratch for the previous nine games. "I didn't have to do the two workouts a day. It was fun getting back into the lineup and get in a fistfight."