Lalime stonewalls Sabres to keep Senators rolling

OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators are enjoying their current streak a lot more than the one that preceded it.

Patrick Lalime earned his first shutout of the season to extend Ottawa's winning streak to four in the Senators' 3-1 victory Saturday night over the Buffalo Sabres.

Martin Havlat, Andre Roy and Todd White scored as Ottawa continued to rebound from a five-game winless streak by raising its record to 7-6-1.

"We've just got to keep it going," Lalime said. "We're doing the little things that led us to win before. Hard work, second effort and backchecking -- every little thing. We want to win, and it shows on the ice."

Making his first start since Oct. 23, Lalime stopped 28 shots, including Miroslav Satan's penalty shot 4:30 into the second, in his 14th career shutout.

Lalime, who played 60 games for Ottawa last season, hadn't started since a 2-1 loss to New Jersey 11 days earlier.

"I was looking forward to the game," Lalime said. "I just wanted to keep our streak going. The guys are playing really well and I'm happy with the result, that's for sure."

Buffalo, which beat Tampa Bay 4-1 at home Friday night to end a three-game losing streak, lost for the fourth time in five games to fall to 6-7-1.

"We came out and played hard," Sabres captain Stu Barnes said. "We had chances and didn't score. We faced a very good hockey club and came up short -- that's the bottom line. We worked hard and it just wasn't quite enough."

Roy also assisted on Havlat's goal that opened the scoring 6:22 in. Ottawa is 6-0-1 when it scores first.

"That's something we're trying to do, get the first goal," Roy said. "You don't want to play from behind."

Outshot 6-0 as they killed two penalties before the game was five minutes old, the Senators kept the game scoreless until Havlat beat goalie Martin Biron with Ottawa's third shot for his fifth goal.

"It was a great start to the game," Havlat said. "We killed the two penalties and that helped us mentally."

Satan had a chance to draw the Sabres even when he was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down by defenseman Chris Phillips on a breakaway.

But Lalime made a pad save to preserve the lead.

"As soon as he came down, I tried to charge him as much as I could to make him deke," Lalime said. "I don't know if he changed his mind, but he let it go and I got a piece of it."

Roy put the Senators up 2-0 with 2:22 left in the second when Bill Muckalt's shot from the right boards deflected in off his leg as he drove to the net.

"Billy shot it in the air and I kind of put my leg out," Roy said. "I'll take it."

White scored his sixth goal with 9:21 left in the third to seal the win.

Notes:

Satan also failed on Buffalo's last penalty shot on March 4, 2000, against New York Islanders goalie Kevin Weekes. Satan beat Atlanta's Damian Rhodes for the Sabres' last penalty shot goal on Oct. 9, 1999. . . . Sabres forward Denis Hamel was cut on the chin when he was struck in the face by Muckalt's stick midway through the third. No penalty was called. . . . Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was held scoreless after scoring eight points in his previous three games. . . . Jani Hurme was in goal for the first three wins of Ottawa's current streak.