Prusek makes 26 stops in fifth career start

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Marian Hossa and Martin Prusek proved Tuesday night that the Ottawa Senators can win without Daniel Alfredsson and Patrick Lalime.

Hossa scored twice and Prusek made 26 saves, keying Ottawa's 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Alfredsson remained sidelined with a lower back injury and Lalime was rested, but the Senators still won for the first time in Buffalo since Dec. 30, 1998 and snapped an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) at HSBC Arena.

Todd White and Brad Smyth also scored for Ottawa, 10-1-3 since Nov. 12.

Henrik Tallinder and Ales Kotalik scored for Buffalo, whose season-best three-game winning streak was halted.

Martin Biron made 26 stops for the Sabres.

Hossa, with six goals in the last six games, now has 18 on the season and trails only Minnesota's Marian Gaborik in the league's goal-scoring race. Tuesday was his fourth multi-goal game of the season.

"I was an offensive player before and now I try to play a two-way game,'' said Hossa, who has scored 32 and 31 goals the previous two seasons. "We are stronger in our zone, and that helps create offense sometimes.''

His coach is happy with the new two-way approach.

"He's been outstanding for us,'' Jacques Martin said.

Prusek, meanwhile, made his fifth career start, and raised his record as a backup this season to 4-0.

"Prusek has played well for us,'' Martin said. "He's won his four games and he's getting more and more confidence.''

White put Ottawa ahead 9:02 into the game with his seventh goal. He was parked in the slot and converted a feed from Martin Havlat.

Tallinder scored the first goal of his NHL career on the power play to tie the game with 5:26 remaining in the period. He pinched into the slot and one-timed a pass from Curtis Brown.

Smyth regained the lead for Ottawa on the power play four minutes later, deflecting a slap shot by Anton Volchenkov.

Hossa made it 3-1 with 8:03 left in the second period. He went in alone on Biron after Tallinder mishandled the puck near the Buffalo blue line.

With 7:59 to go in the game, Hossa took the puck at his own blue line and slipped it between the legs of Buffalo defenseman Brian Campbell on his way to Biron.

Kotalik drew Buffalo within 4-2 with 5:42 to play. He scooped up a loose puck in the high slot and wristed a shot past Prusek.

"That might have been the poorest game we've played,'' Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "We didn't have a chance of generating with the way our defense played.''

Game notes
The attendance of 9,966 was the smallest in HSBC Arena history. ... In addition to Alfredsson, The Senators also scratched defenseman Chris Phillips and wing Petr Schastlivy. ... Buffalo defenseman Alexei Zhitnik remains out with a broken foot. Jochen Hecht, who lost part of his right ear after being hit by a slap shot Saturday night, also sat. ... Left wing Jason Botterill made his Sabres debut. He played 52 games with Dallas and Calgary in the last five seasons.