BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)—Bobby Butler scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the slumping Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Chris Neil and Matt Carkner scored and Erik Condra had two assists for the Senators, who improved to 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Craig Anderson stopped 26 shots.
Brad Boyes and Paul Gaustad scored and Jordan Leopold had two assists for the Sabres, who dropped to 1-5-1 in their past seven games. Jhonas Enroth was by far the busiest goalie in stopping 44 shots, including getting his shoulder up to get a piece of Jason Spezza's snap shot from in close with 12 seconds left in overtime.
Butler sealed the win after each team had scored twice in the shootout and after Buffalo's Drew Stafford didn't fool Anderson in trying to jam his attempt on the short side.
Driving to the net, Butler faked several shots to get Enroth on his heels. Enroth eventually backed up inside his own net, and Butler easily flipped it over the fallen goalie.
The Senators outshot the Sabres 29-20 through two periods and 46-28 overall. And that didn't include the six posts Ottawa players hit: four alone in the opening 20 minutes as the Senators rang in the new year.
The string of shots hitting posts began in the opening minute, when Condra snapped a shot off the post from the left circle. And it didn't end until there was a minute left in the third period, when Butler streaked up the left side and slapped a shot off the near post.
The Senators were coming off a 4-3 overtime win over Calgary on Friday, in a game Ottawa rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win on Daniel Alfredsson's goal.
Ottawa proved once again it's not how a team starts but how it finishes. The Senators never had the lead until the shootout was over.
The teams traded three goals during a 4:20 span early in the second period.
Carkner tied the game at 1 by driving in from the right point and snapping a shot past Enroth. After Gaustad tipped in Leopold's shot from the right boards, the Senators tied it 6:15 into the frame when Neil converted on a partial break by faking a forehand shot and beating Enroth with a backhander.
Boyes had opened the scoring four minutes in by converting a rebound in front.
The Sabres had a goal disallowed with 11:52 remaining because the net had been knocked off its posts.
Driving up the left side, Patrick Kaleta got in around Carkner and was hauled down by the defenseman while driving to the net. Kaleta got a shot off, and the puck dribbled into the slot where Gaustad flipped it in just after Kaleta crashed into the net.
Carkner was not called for a penalty though he clearly got his hand on Kaleta's shoulder in pushing the player to the ice.
NOTES: Senators D Sergei Gonchar didn't play after being struck in the head by a puck during the pregame warmup. That led to D Brian Lee being rushed into action after he was scheduled to be a healthy scratch. … Prior to the game, the Sabres called up defenseman T.J. Brennan from AHL Rochester to bolster a banged-up defense that lost high-priced veteran Christian Ehrhoff to an upper-body injury in a 3-1 loss at Washington a day earlier. This is the third time Brennan has been called up this season. … Sabres C Nathan Gerbe returned after missing 10 games with a concussion. That made rookie RW Zack Kassian a healthy scratch. … Senators Spezza failed to register a point in Buffalo for the first time in 15 games. It's a streak and which he had 13 goals and 16 assists dating to Feb. 22, 2007.
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