After playing nine consecutive road games and going 4-4-1 during the stretch, the Ottawa Senators were finally able to play a home for the first time in 26 days as they hosted the Buffalo Sabres.
The Senators were eager to avenge an awful 5-1 loss against the Sabres on Nov. 5 in Buffalo in the first meeting of the season, but the second meeting was more of the same from the first meeting with another four-goal defeat.
The Sabres shutout the Senators 4-0 at Canadian Tire Centre to drop the Senators to 19-18-3 on the season. With the loss, the Senators have extended their horrible stretch by now losing six of their last seven games.
Four games into 2025, the Senators are 0-3-1. In a long story short against the Sabres tonight, nothing went right for the Senators.
2. Goalied again against the Sabres
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started the first Senators-Sabres game in November and out-dueled Linus Ullmark by making 37 saves. Against Anton Forsberg tonight, Luukkonen was strong again against the Senators offense.
Luukkonen made 35 saves to earn his second shutout of the season. Sixteen of Luukkonen's 35 saves came in the third period. Forsberg would allow two goals each in the first and second period. In the first period, Ottawa native Jack Quinn scored two goals in a three-minute span for the Sabres.
With his performance tonight, Luukkonen has stopped 72 of Ottawa's 73 shots on goal against him this season. Forsberg has now lost seven of his last eight starts.
1. Offense continues to be brutal in 2025
The Senators have talented offensive players on the team, but the offense has simply not gotten anything going four games into 2025.
In four games in 2025, the Senators offense has scored a combined four goals. In two of the four games, the Senators were shutout. The Senators were shutout once this season prior to 2025 beginning.
Although Forsberg had struggles again in goal, the offense isn't helping with not being able to score. While the Senators had quality chances, solving Luukkonen has been an issue this season and bad breaks happened in the loss.
The Senators will return to action on Saturday when they hit the road again for one game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. In the first meeting between the Senators and Penguins on Dec. 14 in Ottawa, the Senators won 3-2 in overtime.