OTTAWA — With the depleted Ottawa
Senators scrambling just to put together four forward lines, goalie
Brian Elliott helped bail them out with another big game.
Elliott made 22 saves for his second
shutout in four games, and Alexandre Picard and Mike Fisher scored to
help the Senators beat Buffalo 2-0 on Wednesday night.
"Obviously you go into every game
wanting to stop every puck," Elliott said. "I was able to make all the
saves I should and maybe a couple I shouldn't."
Elliott, making his 13th straight
start in the absence of the injured Pascal Leclaire, has three shutouts
in 41 career NHL games.
The Senators (17-12-4) also are
missing top forward Jason Spezza and winger Nick Foligno. Spezza could
miss six to eight weeks because of a torn medial collateral ligament,
while Foligno is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
The absences forced Senators coach Cory Clouston to fill some holes.
One of the more creative moves was
having defenseman Chris Campoli, who had been a healthy scratch the
last two games, play on the wing.
"It was a great team effort," Clouston said. "Everybody did their role, everybody did their jobs and it was a nice win."
The Sabres came into the game on a
four-game winning streak, but seemed to be caught off guard by the
Senators, who compensated for their injury-depleted lineup with plenty
of hard work.
"Not real impressive on our part,"
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. "Ottawa played a pretty solid game, but
we've got to be better. … I don't think we generated enough on the
front end. They put a game plan together and did it a little bit better
than us."
Picard opened the scoring in the
first period, and Fisher, with his 15th, secured the win, scoring with
just over a minute remaining.
"It doesn't matter how we win as
long as we're finding ways and playing good defensively," Fisher said.
"A bunch of guys played really well. We just need to stick to our good
team game."
Notes
The Senators were also
without RW Shean Donovan (knee, eight weeks). The Sabres were missing C
Nathan Gerbe (groin, day-to-day), C Paul Gaustad (knee, one week) and D
Chris Butler (ankle, indefinitely).