Final Score: Ottawa 5, Buffalo 2

Buffalo, NY (Sports Network) - Jason Spezza scored two goals and assisted on another to help send the Ottawa Senators past the Sabres, 5-2, in a Northeast Division matchup from HSBC Arena.

Alex Auld stopped 25-of-27 shots in an equally impressive outing for the Senators, who put the brakes on a four-game losing streak. Dany Heatley had a goal and an assist while Daniel Alfredsson had a pair of helpers.

"He was real good. I think what we like about him most besides him making saves, is he has good poise in the net," Sens head coach Craig Hartsburg said of Auld. "When there are scrambles and things get a little hairy, he seems to have real good poise and doesn't get rattled. He made some big saves for us."

Clarke MacArthur and Derek Roy provided goals late in the third and Patrick Lalime made 23 saves for the Sabres, who were dealt their first regulation loss of the season (6-1-2).

"We made some mistakes, We weren't good with the puck," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "If you look at their first goal, we handed it to them and then Derek (Roy) handed another one to them. You make those mistakes and you're going to pay for them."

Both teams survived a flurry of man-advantage opportunities in the first period before Ottawa registered a power-play goal off the stick of Christoph Schubert in the final two minutes. His wrister from the high slot beat Lalime over the left shoulder, but both goaltenders looked sharp early on.

Auld was tested on a breakaway chance from Daniel Paille, while Lalime faced 11 shots and stoned Chris Kelly when the talented centerman took a pass and got behind the defense.

The Sens struck again just 19 seconds into the second on a man-advantage holdover from the opening period. Spezza skated behind the net and fired a pass out in front where Heatley buried the puck in the back of the net.

Spezza took a pass from Antoine Vermette at center ice 4 1/2 minutes later and raced in on net, faking a slap shot that brought the netminder to his knees, before skating to Lalime's right for the easy score.

Buffalo had its best chance of the game on a power play just past the midway point of the second. Auld kicked out a rebound to his right where Jason Pominville was staring at an open net -- but he rushed a shot off the outside of the net.

Late in the period, Buffalo failed to clear the zone and the Sens capitalized as Spezza jammed home a rebound off a shot from Heatley for a 4-0 lead. Shean Donovan took a pass from Jesse Winchester in front and gave the Sens a 5-0 lead with a quick shot 5:50 into the third.

MacArthur put in a rebound on a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third and Roy tallied with 32 seconds left, but with the contest already decided.

Game Notes

Ottawa has come out on top in their previous four trips to Buffalo...The Sens are now 1-1 on their four-game road trip and are 2-1-0 as the visitor this season...The Sabres (3-1) also dropped their first game at home this season and kicked off a three-game homestand Monday...USA Hockey announced Monday that the city of Buffalo will host the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, a tournament that brings the best under-20 talent from the 10 best hockey- playing nations to one place each year...Buffalo beat out two other finalists -- previous hosts St. Paul, Minnesota and Grand Forks, North Dakota -- to become the fifth American city to host the prestigious tournament.