"The small-rink atmosphere added an intriguing new element to pre-season National Hockey League action Tuesday, but it still added up to an agonizing night for more than a dozen Ottawa Senators hopefuls after a 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. With the Senators prepared to ship several players to Corner Brook, N.L., site of training camp for the American Hockey League's Binghamton Senators training camp on Wednesday — coach Cory Clouston said the total will be "14, give or take a few" — Tuesday's game was the last several of them will see of the NHL for a while, if not the rest of the season. The game was played in the suburb of Dundas, which won the Kraft Hockeyville contest earlier this year. Goaltender Robin Lehner and defenceman Patrick Wiercioch made the decisions tougher. Both made glaring mistakes, but bounced back and should survive at least another few days in Ottawa. Lehner, whose only previous pre-season game was a 5-0 shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs a week earlier, only had himself to blame for the end of the shutout streak in the first period. With the Senators on the power play and Lehner behind his own net, he passed the puck directly to Buffalo's Rob Niedermayer, who slid the puck into the vacated net. Lehner, however, kept the Senators in the game, stopping Zack Kassian on a 2-on-1 break following a terrible giveaway by Wiercioch at the Sabres' blue-line. Before the period was out, Lehner also stopped Travis Turnbull on a breakaway. Lehner was also solid in the second and third periods until Jason Pominville beat him on a partial breakaway for the winning goal with 8:35 remaining. "I had a brutal goal, the first one and I just tried to bounce back from that," said Lehner, who realized a dream by playing against Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller. "You have to be mentally strong to play here, and I think I did that. I had a couple of good saves, and the team played really well, I think." Wiercioch showcased his offensive side, tying the game 1-1 with 12.7 seconds left in the second period, beating Miller high on the glove side." http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports...ace cuts after loss Sabres/3593556/story.html
