Tyler Ennis hopes this is a sign of things to come when playing with Jack Eichel.
Ennis scored a hat trick Saturday night in a 6-4 Buffalo Sabres victory over the Ottawa Senators in NHL pre-season action playing alongside Eichel and Evander Kane.
“He’s got some great skill,” said Ennis of his young teammate. “He played well tonight. He’s got some good speed. I think he played a great game.”
The trio combined for seven points (four goals, three assists). Kane also scored while Eichel had two assists.
Ennis also had an assist as the Sabres improved to 3-1-0 in pre-season play, while the Senators dropped to 1-2-1.
Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson, into an empty net, also scored for the Sabres. Chad Johnson faced 34 shots.
Mark Stone, Marc Methot, Nick Paul and Bobby Ryan scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson allowed five goals on 30 shots.
This was Anderson’s first 60-minute effort and he was far from his best.
“I didn’t feel good in the first,” Anderson said. “Let’s be honest I wasn’t very good and didn’t feel good in the net. I was just kind of fighting a couple things, but got that sorted out for the second and third.”
Ennis scored his third of the night at the 13-minute mark of the third to put the Sabres up 5-3 as he was able to get his stick on a bouncing puck. The Senators managed to make it 5-4 on Ryan’s power-play goal less than a minute later, but could not find the equalizer despite a late power play opportunity.
“Hopefully it’s a bit of a wake-up call to guys that this league is never easy and we have to get better,” said Senators coach Dave Cameron of his team’s effort.
The Sabres led 3-2 to start the second and made it a two-goal game as Eichel fed Ennis with a great pass for his second goal of the night.
Eichel has been impressive through his first two pre-season games, he now has one goal and three assists, but deflects much of the praise.
“It’s pretty easy to play with them (Kane and Ennis),” said Eichel. “(Ennis) had an explosive game and (Cane) played really well too. As soon as we got the first one we gained some confidence and started to use our speed.”
The Senators made it a one-goal game in the final minute of the second as Johnson gave up a huge rebound, allowing Paul to score his first for the Senators.
The 16,738 on hand were entertained by five first-period goals.
Ottawa jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Stone and Methot.
Stone opened the scoring at 4:59 as he deflected Erik Karlsson’s point shot, and just over two minutes later Methot made it 2-0 with a blast from the blue line.
The Sabres then went on to score three unanswered goals.
“You never like to come out as hard as we do and then tail off the way we did,” said Stone. “It’s kind of frustrating not only for me, but for everyone when you come out and play so good and give up a lead.”
Ennis cut the lead in half at the eight-minute mark with a sneaky backhand and then Kane tied the game after Ennis stripped Clarke MacArthur of the puck and made a quick pass to Kane, who easily buried it.
Buffalo took the lead as Girgensons made the most of a big bounce off the end boards late in the period.
