Artem Anisimov and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two goals as the Ottawa Senators scored four straight times in the first period to erase a two-goal deficit and beat the visiting Buffalo Sabres 7-4 on Tuesday night.
Pageau also posted two assists for the Senators, who overcame a 2-0 hole by coming alive during a wild first period to win back-to-back contests for the first time since a three-game run from Nov. 19-22. Ottawa also won its third straight over Buffalo to take the season series 3-1-0.
Defenseman Brandon Montour recorded two goals with an assist, and rookie Victor Olofsson posted one of each for the Sabres, who had won three in a row. Montour opened the scoring at 2:14 into the first off a scramble in front of the Ottawa goal. With 9:48 left in the opening period, Montour made it 2-0 as he banged home a shot from the point.
However, the Senators dominated the rest of the period by scoring three times over a span of 1:14, and then adding another. Vladislav Namestnikov began the surge with a short-handed goal on a breakaway where it seemed Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton (33 saves) initially stopped the puck with 5:58 to play in the period.
Anisimov tied the game at 2-2 off a nifty move from behind the net. After Drake Batherson, who also had an assist, gave the Senators a 3-2 edge just nine seconds later, Anisimov struck from the slot on the power play to make it 4-2 with 2:29 to go.
Buffalo pulled to 4-3 at 2:36 into the second when Kyle Okposo converted a pass through crease from Johan Larsson for his seventh of the season.
The Senators went up by two again when Pageau crashed the net on Anthony Duclair's shot from the point with 11 minutes left in the second. The Sabres made it 5-4 when Olofsson (who has 19 goals) sent a power-play one-timer from the far circle with 6:13 remaining in the same period.
Pageau added his team-leading 24th goal to put the game to bed on the power play with 7:07 left in regulation. Duclair snapped a 21-game goal drought with an empty-netter for the Senators' second short-handed goal of the night.
Craig Anderson made 23 saves for Ottawa.
--Field Level Media
