(Sports Network) - Steve Montador tallied the go-ahead goal in the middle stages of the second period and Buffalo killed off a five-minute major penalty late in the third, as the Sabres escaped with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at HSBC Arena.

Drew Stafford and Jochen Hecht also scored for Buffalo, which snapped a brief two-game slide. The Sabres have split their last six overall. Ryan Miller turned in a stellar performance, stopping 28-of-29 shots.

"They did a real nice job," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said about the defensive effort. "There lanes were good. We did a good job with lanes. We did a good with job staying in front of people and when they did get one in front of the net, we were right there for the rebounds."

Patrick O'Sullivan tallied for the Oilers, who dropped a 4-3 shootout decision at Ottawa on Tuesday and have lost five of their last six contests. Nikolai Khabibulin made 23 saves.

With Buffalo clinging to a 2-1 lead, Clarke MacArthur was whistled for a five- minute boarding major and a game misconduct after hammering Liam Reddox from behind at 13:45 of the third. However, despite good puck possession the Oilers were unable to capitalize on the advantage.

Then in the final minute of play and Khabibulin out in favor of the extra attacker, Hecht scored into the empty net with 19 seconds remaining.

Stafford opened the scoring with 4:29 left in the first when he picked up a rebound in front and flipped a backhander past Khabibulin on the glove side.

The Sabres made it a 2-0 game at 7:34 of the second on Montador's blast from the top of the right circle.

Edmonton got on the board at 17:49 while skating with a 5-on-3 advantage. O'Sullivan's slap shot from the top of the right circle beat Miller on the stick side to make it 2-1 after two periods.

Game Notes

Edmonton winger Ales Hemsky returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a shoulder injury and registered an assist...Tim Connolly had a pair of helpers for Buffalo...The Oilers, who have lost four straight in this series were unable to exact revenge for a 10-2 thrashing the Sabres dealt them in Edmonton last season.



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