A Rare Win For The Buffalo Sabres

Maybe the key to winning games for the Buffalo Sabres is to battle their way to a shootout, where they're undefeated this year.

The Sabres and Ottawa Senators finished overtime in a 1-1 tie, forcing a shootout where 10 skaters from each team tried their luck until Zemgus Girgensons scored the deciding goal to give the Sabres a 2-1 win.

Girgensons also scored the Sabres' lone goal in regulation to give him goals in back-to-back games. Ryan Miller meanwhile stopped 35 of 36 shots plus 7 of 10 in the shootout. It gives him 46 career shootout wins; the most in NHL history.

Scoring is still a problem for this team, but since the arrival of interim coach Ted Nolan, they're playing better defense. Until they can figure out how to put the puck in the net on a consistent basis, they're going to have to depend on shutting other teams down if they expect to win games.

Tuesday night's game was the first of a home-and-home series between the two teams.  The Sabres are in Ottawa on Thursday night.