Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave Ottawa Senators fans an early Christmas gift with a two-goal effort in a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Zemgus Girgensons scored the lone goal for the Sabres (17-14-7), while Linus Ullmark made 27 saves.
With the game tied 1-1, Pageau scored his second of the night in impressive fashion. He took a drop pass from Connor Brown and broke in on Ullmark, who made the initial save, and then jumped on a Brady Tkachuk rebound and backhanded it in.
Anderson made two great saves to keep the lead, including one on Evan Rodrigues while sprawled on his back. Tkachuk added an empty-net goal to ensure the victory.
CRAIG. ANDERSON. C’MON. <a href=”https://t.co/0cEiCiMMvh”>pic.twitter.com/0cEiCiMMvh</a>
—@NHL
Both goalies made a number of big saves in the second period, with Ullmark stopping Tyler Ennis point blank to keep it a one-goal game.
The Sabres were finally able to beat Anderson at 15:12 as Rodrigues made a backhand pass to Girgensons who tipped it over Anderson’s shoulder.
Despite being outshot 14-10 in the first period, it was the Senators (16-18-4) who took a 1-0 lead. Tkachuk sent a great pass to Pageau whp beat Ullmark with a one-timer.
Jack Eichel’s attempt at becoming the first player in Sabres history to have a point in 19 consecutive games came to an end. Eichel came into the game with 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) over his last 18 games.