Senators 3, Sabres 2 (SO)
Bobby Butler scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout as the Ottawa Senators shaded the host Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Saturday night.
After the teams played a scoreless third period and overtime session, they provided plenty of offense in the sudden-death format. Ottawa's Jason Spezza and Buffalo's Brad Boyes both scored in round two, while captains Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Pominville exchanged goals in the third round.
Butler finally ended things by deking out Buffalo netminder Jhonas Enroth as the Senators won for the fifth time in seven games.
Buffalo opened the scoring on a power play 4:06 into the first period. Boyes pounced on a rebound of a Jordan Leopold shot and slid the puck past Senators netminder Craig Anderson for just his third goal of the campaign.
Ottawa evened things on Matt Carkner's wrist shot early in the second period, but Buffalo needed less than 90 seconds to regain the lead. Paul Gaustad redirected a Leopold slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Anderson for his third of the season.
The Senators clawed back at 6:15, as Chris Neil eluded the Buffalo defense before beating Enroth with a backhand deke.