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BUFFALO Womens Patrick Marleau Jersey , N.Y. (AP) Three years after bottoming out, the Buffalo Sabres found a way to achieve a new low.A 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night assured Buffalo of becoming the NHL’s first team to finish 31st following this season’s addition of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.”Honestly, no. I don’t think anyone really envisioned this, certainly not myself being on the outside coming in,” said Jason Pominville, the former Sabres captain who rejoined the team last offseason after being acquired in a trade with Minnesota.”With the group we had, I still don’t believe we should be where we’re at. But we are there. And things got to change.”First-year coach Phil Housley was defiant when asked if he ever second-guessed what he signed up for upon being hired in June after the Sabres cleaned house last spring.”I believe in this organization. I believe in our management. I believe we’re going to turn this thing around,” Housley said.And yet the Hall of Fame defenseman had to acknowledge how difficult this season has been.”This is just where we are as a group,” Housley said. ”Let’s be honest, we have a long way to go.”Having already extended their franchise-worst playoff drought to a seventh year, the Sabres clinched last place for the third time in five years – they were 30th in both 2013-14 and 2014-15.Their fate this season was sealed in losing their home finale in a matchup of two of the NHL’s worst teams.Matt Duchene scored his team-leading 27th goal and the 30th-place Senators upped their total to 67 points, five ahead of the Sabres, who have just two games left.Max McCormick, Ryan Dzingel and Alexandre Burrows, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson stopped 32 shots, and Ottawa improved to 2-8 in its past 10.”We play for each other, we play for our fans, we play for the crest on the front,” Anderson said of the Senators’ objective to not finish last.And the Senators won with a roster depleted of numerous regulars, including captain Erik Karlsson Rasmus Andersson Jersey Womens , who remained in Ottawa to be his wife after the couple’s first son was stillborn two weeks ago.The Senators scored three straight times after Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly opened the scoring on a breakaway goal 30 seconds in.McCormick tied the game 2:26 later by tipping in Mark Borowiecki’s point shot. Duchene scored 3:14 later by blasting in a shot over Chad Johnson’s left shoulder after teammate Ben Harpur broke up Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s clearing attempt at the left boards.Dzingel made it 3-1 at the 3:21 mark of the second period, seconds after a tripping penalty against Buffalo’s Marco Scandella expired. Dzingel collected a loose puck in the right circle and used Sabres defenseman Casey Nelson as a screen to sneak a shot under Johnson’s right arm.Johnson stopped 30 shots and Kyle Okposo also scored for the Sabres in closing Buffalo’s home record at 11-25-5.The Sabres’ league-worst 11 home wins matched a franchise low for any year, including the lockout-shortened 48-game 2012-13 season, when Buffalo went 11-10-3. Buffalo also went 11-19-9 during a 78-game season in 1971-72.The Sabres’ final four home losses came against four of the NHL’s five-worst road teams: Arizona, which entered the day 27th, Detroit (28th), Ottawa (30th) and Montreal (31st).”I expected a lot more,” O’Reilly said about Buffalo’s record. ”But you can expect all you want. It comes down to doing it and getting better. And obviously, we got worse.”NOTES: Senators RW Bobby Ryan did not return after sustaining a lower body injury in the first period. He was hurt when teammate Jean-Gabriel Pageau fell back into him after being checked by Buffalo’s Jack Eichel. … Sabres C Zemgus Girgensons will miss the final three games with an upper body injury. … Senators RW Marian Gaborik missed his seventh consecutive game, and Boucher said the player is visiting a specialist to determine the severity of a nagging back injury. … Corey Syvret made his debut as an NHL referee. Syvret played for OHL London in 2006 when he lost a fight, decisively, to current Sabres forward Jordan Nolan.UP NEXTSenators: Continue season-closing three-game trip Friday night at Pittsburgh.Sabres: Open season-closing two-game trip Friday night at Tampa Bay.— BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin nods his head acknowledging he’s familiar with the name when Scotty Bowman comes up in conversation. The 18-year-old is then taken aback upon hearing what the Hockey Hall of Fame coach had to say about the rookie defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres.For all the accolades the Swedish-born player received upon being drafted first overall in June, Dahlin paused briefly upon hearing the nine-time Stanley Cup-winner believes he has the potential to be the best defenseman in Sabres’ history.“Of course that’s fun to hear, but I’m just 18-years-old and I have many years in front of me,” Dahlin said. “I can’t think in that way. I just need to work as hard as I can to be as good as I can.”Moments later, Dahlin noted he still hasn’t even made the roster yet.“We’ll see,” he said.Perhaps someone in the Sabres’ front-office might want to break the good news by informing Dahlin his spot is secure for Buffalo’s opener against Boston on Thursday. Bowman had little doubt after watching Dahlin during a prospects tournament earlier this month; Dahlin wowed the 1,800 fans packing the Sabres practice facility by fearlessly jumping into the rush and showing off his play-making abilities with two goals and an assist against New Jersey.His first goal came after he danced around a defender and snapped a shot through a crowd. The second came on a two-on-one break, during which he raced into the left circle to convert a rebound.“He’ll have some growing pains, but he’s got a terrific shot William Nylander Jersey ,” Bowman told The Associated Press. “He’s got what they call a nose for the net. Bobby Orr did that.”Bowman, who spent six-plus seasons coaching in Buffalo, then ran down the list of Sabres’ defensive greats, such as current coach and Hall of Famer Phil Housley, Jim Schoenfeld, Jerry Korab and Mike Ramsey.“He’s only 18, but I think in about two to three seasons, if he continues at the same level that he has in Sweden, the Sabres could be looking at a career defenseman,” he said.The Sabres, who haven’t made the playoffs in seven seasons and finished last in the standings for the third time in five years, are certainly counting on it.“We see the potential, too,” general manager Jason Botterill said. “The bottom line is, it’s our job to develop him.”Dahlin will endure his growing pains, which were evident during preseason games in which he displayed some nerves while also getting accustomed to the smaller North American ice surface. There were occasions in which he was too cavalier with the puck, including being stripped by veteran Patrick Marleau of Toronto last week.More apparent is how the smooth-skating, no-look-passing youngster can provide a play-making element severely lacking among Buffalo’s defensemen a year ago.Sabres blue-liners combined for a league-worst 19 goals last season. Things were so anemic Buffalo didn’t get its first goal from a defenseman until 28 games in, when Jake McCabe scored on Dec. 5.Dahlin is decisive in breaking out of his own zone. He has an effortless stick-handling ability and he’s instinctive in knowing when to join the rush without being reckless.In the opening seconds of his first shift against New Jersey, Dahlin sped up the neutral zone to accept a pass and create a scoring chance after a Devils turnover.“He’s come in as advertised,” Devils GM Ray Shero said. “He has a confidence to his game. He’s got a flair to the way he plays.”Botterill went further in saying: “He seems to see everything. It’s something that’s very difficult to sort of explain Zach Hyman Jersey , but he certainly has it.”At 6-foot-3 and 186 pounds, Dahlin was regarded as the most NHL-ready prospect in this year’s draft class, and drew comparisons to other elite Swedish defensemen, such as San Jose’s Erik Karlsson and former Detroit star Nicklas Lidstrom.Dahlin’s first taste of Buffalo came last winter, when the city hosted the World Junior championship. Dahlin helped Sweden win a silver medal and was named the tournament’s top defenseman with six assists in seven games. A month later, he represented Sweden at the Winter Olympics, where he had an assist in two games. Dahlin had seven goals and 13 assists in 41 games with Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League, and earned junior player of the year honors.Dahlin is soft-spoken, in part because he’s still getting a grasp of the English language. As for hockey, he said, it’s a game he always wanted to play growing up in Trollhattan, not far from Sweden’s west coast.Though Dahlin makes the game look easy, he said that’s far from how it has been.“I always played with older guys, so it’s never been that easy,” said Dahlin, who was 16 upon making his Swedish Elite League debut. “It’s always been a challenge for me to make the team and stuff like that. I think the challenge makes me motivated.”Now he’s on the cusp of playing in the NHL.“This is my dream,” Dahlin said. “And I really want to make the team.”