Sabres Down Sens: Move Within 4 Points of 8th Place

If you haven't been watching the Sabres lately, you should be. After a horrible start to the season that left many wondering if the playoffs were even a possibility, the Sabres are rolling and can feel the 8th seed in the eastern conference in their grasps.

The Sabres defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday to cap off a wonderful month of January where they went 8-3-1 and are now within four points of Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the eastern conference.

Now onto the game.

Ottawa got out on top first as Chris Kelly scored his 11th goal of the season to put the Senators up 1-0 less than five minutes into the first period.

But the Senators lead was only meant to last a short period of time.

The Sabres responded to the Sen's early lead with a goal of their own as Paul Byron scored his first career NHL goal to tie the game up at 1-1.

Then, before the first period ended, Jochen Hecht added his 8th goal of the year and the Sabres entered the first intermission up 2-1.

The game would remain with the Sabres up 2-1 until late in the 3rd period when Sergei Gonchar scored for the Senators to tie up the game at 2-2.

The game remained tied at 2-2 and headed into overtime.

Midway through overtime, Shaone Morrison scored his 1st goal of the season to give the Sabres the 3-2 win.

The win caps off a very good month of January for the Sabres and has them entering the All-Star break with all the momentum in the world.

The Sabres are playing with more confidence and look like a team that expects to make the playoffs.

They are now winning close games that they would've lost earlier in the season and their young players are stepping up big and contributing for them.

The Sabres currently stand in 10th place in the eastern conference and four points behind Atlanta for the final playoff spot with two games in hand.

They now start their All-Star break and don't play again till February 4th when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins.

Attendance: 18,990

Buffalo's Record: 23-21-5 (51 points) 10th in the Eastern Conference

Points Back Of Playoffs: 4 points back of Atlanta (2 games in hand)

Last 10: 7-3

Interesting Note: Paul Byron scored his 1st career NHL goal

Key Stat: Andrej Sekera was a +2

Three Stars:

1st- Ryan Miller (Buffalo)

2nd- Chris Kelly (Ottawa)

3rd- Paul Byron (Buffalo)