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Roy's big night vaults Sabres past Senators

Mar 28, 2008 - 4:25 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- With the pressure mounting and the regular season winding down, Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff could not bare to watch the most crucial part of his team's latest win.

Derek Roy had a pair of assists in regulation and scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout as the Sabres continued their playoff push with a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

Maxim Afinogenov, Jochen Hecht and Paul Gaustad tallied and Ryan Miller stopped 25 shots for Buffalo (36-30-11), which remained five points out the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ruff probably was the only person in attendance not watching when captain Jason Pominville opened the scoring in the shootout with a wrist shot that caromed off the right goalpost in the second round.

"I didn't watch the shootout," Ruff said. "I turned the other way. It's that time of year, so I figured I had to try something different. I heard the clang and knew it was either good news or bad news. Luckily, it was good news for us tonight."

Mike Fisher scored twice and All-Star Jason Spezza also netted a goal for the Senators (42-28-8), who climbed within four points of the idle Montreal Canadiens (43-24-10) for first place in the Northeast Division. Ottawa is five points back of Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh (45-26-7).

"They're a desperate hockey club," Fisher said. "But we should've been able to match them for 60 minutes tonight. We need points just as much as anybody right now. We have to be desperate, too, and fight for everything we can get."

After Pominville opened the scoring in the bonus format, Spezza answered by beating Miller between the pads. But Roy ended it by deking goaltender Martin Gerber and slipping a shot just inside the left post.

"We have to go out every night and battle hard for wins," Roy said. "And that's exactly what we did tonight. We know we're in a fight for a playoff spot, and a win here tonight is a step in that direction."

"This win was essential for us right now," Miller said. "We're five points out, but we have games against the team ahead of us to get it done, so that's our focus."

Gaustad forced extra time by scoring his 10th goal of the season with 86 seconds remaining in the third period. After recovering a rebound on the right side of the net, Gaustad attempted to stuff the puck inside the post and banked it in off the pad of Gerber.

"That was a tough shift and a great grinding goal for us," Ruff said. "That's what we need right now. If we work hard like that and keep going at our opponents until the final horn, we'll be rewarded."

"It's disappointing to give up the lead with a minute and a half left in the game," Fisher said. "That just can't happen, especially this time of year."

Ottawa, which posted a 6-3 victory at Buffalo on Tuesday, appeared headed to a sweep of the home-and-home series as Fisher netted his second of the game at 3:58 of the third to give the Senators a 3-2 edge.

Fisher, who had knotted the game at 2-2 just 4:17 into the second, tapped a pass from Antoine Vermette past an out-of-position Miller for his 23rd goal of the season.

Gerber, who entered with a 4-0-0 record and 2.46 goals-against average against Buffalo this season, stopped 37 shots.

Vermette and defenseman Andrej Meszaros each had two assists for the Senators.