The Buffalo Sabres would be all smiles tonight with their win over the top-seeded Ottawa Senators if it weren't for losing forward Tim Connolly in the first minute of the game.
Connolly, who was coming across the neutral zone with his head down carrying the puck, got drilled by Ottawa forward Peter Schaefer.
It was a clean, open ice hit that Connolly never saw coming. The big hit left Connolly laying on the ice while play stopped. He was eventually helped off the ice, not to be seen again this game.
The scoring finally started 3:33 into the second period by JP Dumont. Daniel Briere did most of the work on that one, fooling Ray Emery to the ice. He then passed the puck over to Dumont, who had a goal mouth just yawning at him.
During the third period, Ottawa defenseman Anton Volchenkov checked Buffalo forward Paul Gaustad, but the two players appeared to hit head to head. While bouncing off of Gaustad, Volchenkov hit his head on the boards. Volchenkov had to be helped off the ice, but did later return.
Jochen Hecht also scored for the Sabres and Chris Phillips was the lone goal scorer for the Senators.
