Tage Thompson scores 39th goal, but 'winning is first priority': Takeaways from Ottawa
Tage Thompson's latest highlight-reel play helped them hold on to secure a season sweep of the Senators with a 5-2 win.
JJ Peterka was yelling for the puck after Tage Thompson stickhandled around Ottawa Senators winger Drake Batherson.
Thompson moved the puck twice, backhand to forehnd, then slid it over to Peterka, who slid it right back to his teammate while Senators goalie Linus Ullmark and defenseman Nick Jensen were out of position.
Buffalo Sabres right wing Alex Tuch celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators during first period in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Thompson hammered the puck into the open net for his 39th goal this season and the Sabres’ third of the game Tuesday night at Canadian Tire Centre. His latest highlight-reel play helped them hold on to secure a season sweep of the Senators with a 5-2 win.
“I think his game continues to grow every year,” said Sabres center Peyton Krebs. “His confidence is unmatched. That’d when he’s at his best.”
Leon Draisaitl and William Nylander are the only NHL players with more goals than Thompson this season, and his 115 goals since the start of the 2022-23 season rank 12th. He’s scored 29 goals at 5 on 5 through 74 games, six more than any other player, and he has eight games to reach the 40-goal milestone for the second time in three seasons. Thompson can join Thomas Vanek as the only Sabres since 1993 to reach that mark twice with the franchise.
It's been an exceptional season for Thompson in every way, aside from the one that matters the most to the 27-year-old forward. He hasn’t reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs since he was traded to the Sabres as part of the Ryan O’Reilly deal in June 2018.
The Sabres would have been seven points out of the second wild-card spot if Montreal did not rally to beat Florida in overtime Tuesday night, but the 13-game winless streak prevented Thompson and his teammates from realizing their potential. Their 32-36-6 record and 70 standings points are second-worst in the Eastern Conference, though their .473 points percentage is tied with Pittsburgh for 13th out of 16 teams.
“If I’m scoring, I’m helping the team in that aspect,” said Thompson, who signed a seven-year contract with Buffalo in August 2022. “Obviously, I want to continue to improve other parts of my game, but we haven’t won since I’ve been here so there’s a lot more I can do. I have to continue to grow and get better. When you’re scoring, it’s nice. It helps the team. Obviously, winning is the first priority. The individual stuff is great, but no one remembers you for that.”
In many ways, the Senators are a reminder to the Sabres of what this season could have been. Ottawa (39-29-6) is in the second wild-card playoff spot despite its 0-4 record and minus-8 goal differential in the season series. Buffalo has a plus-4 goal differential at 5 on 5, while the Senators are minus-20 with the third-fewest goals scored in those situations.
The difference is Ottawa’s power play ranks in the top half of the league – though it went 0-for-4 against the Sabres in this game – and Buffalo’s is still 26th after it scored on nine of its 31 opportunities before Tuesday. The Senators also avoided the long winless streak that dropped them from a playoff spot to last place. They didn’t lose seven games in which they led by multiple goals, either, and they’ve allowed 66 second-period goals compared to Buffalo’s 96.
It took the Sabres too long to learn how to close out games. They did it twice in three days to cap the road trip, as Ryan McLeod scored a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 2:29 left in the third period to make it 5-2 and eliminate any chance of a Senators comeback. Krebs, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin also chipped in a goal apiece, while James Reimer made 33 saves. The Sabres are 8-4 in their last 12 games overall, and they won consecutive road games for the first time since last December.
The Sabres outscored the Senators 15-7 while sweeping the four-game series between the Atlantic Division rivals. Krebs, Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin and Ryan McLeod also chipped in a goal apiece, while James Reimer made 33 saves. Krebs picked off Dylan Cozens’ cross-ice pass in the neutral zone and snapped a high shot past Ullmark for a 4-1 lead with 10:01 left in the third period. The Sabres won consecutive road games for the first time since late December, and they are 8-4 in their last 12 games overall.
“For us to be a good team, we got to close out these games,” said Krebs. “Early in the year, we weren’t doing that, and that’s a good step in the right direction. No, it’s a lot of fun winning those hockey games.”
The Sabres may have a 40-goal scorer (Thompson), a 30-goal scorer (Tuch has 33) and three with 20 goals (JJ Peterka, 23; McLeod, 19; and Jason Zucker, 19), while Dahlin is having an exceptional season despite playing through injuries. Each player represents an important building block, but, as Thompson pointed out after his latest exceptional goal, individual accolades aren’t memorable unless they’re used to secure a playoff berth.
Here are other takeaways from the game:
1. Starting nod
Reimer started for the sixth time in eight games.The assignment was deserved after his performance in Washington, and he made more clutch saves against Ottawa. The 37-year-old goalie stopped a pair of early point-blank redirects, and he bailed out the Sabres twice in 28 seconds when Tim Stutzle was left open around the net.
and he made four saves while helping the Sabres kill three Senators power plays in the first period. Reimer has a .904 save percentage over his last five starts and, though it hasn’t been perfect, he’s made more momentum-changing stops recently than Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
2. Difference
Everyone knows Quinn can shoot.
He reminded everyone of that fact Sunday when he snapped the puck under the crossbar during a breakaway for an important third-period goal against the Capitals. The Sabres need to see Quinn make an impact in other areas, though. He hasn’t won enough puck battles to help his line create offense. It was an encouraging sign that he stripped Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot of the puck behind Ottawa’s net, then passed to Dahlin to set up Buffalo’s second goal. Quinn has four goals with nine points in his last five games.
“I think it’s been hard,” said Ruff. “We’ve had a lot of hard conversations, but I think he’s bought into where the game needs to go and where he needs to get to and he’s working hard at it.”
3. Injuries
Josh Norris and Jordan Greenway are running out of time to return for the Sabres this season.There are only five practices scheduled before the season finale April 17, and Ruff did not have an update Tuesday on either forward’s status other than they are continuing to rehab their respective injuries. Greenway has played eight games since signing a two-year, $8 million contract extension. Norris played only three games with the Sabres after the trade, then he was shut down with a middle-body injury that was problematic in Ottawa.
Sabres rookie center Tyson Kozak left the game in the second period Tuesday because of a lower-body injury.