Ottawa Senators

The Senators are hoping two key players will be back in the lineup Monday when they face the Washington Capitals at Ottawa.

But the truth is, they did just fine without both Saturday.

Alex Kovalev was in Russia for his mother-in-law's funeral when they defeated the Sabres to extend their winning streak to three games and leapfrog the Bruins into second place of the Northeast Division, one point behind first-place Buffalo. Kovalev has only four goals and 10 in 19 games, but the line he's on with Mike Fisher and Nick Foligno had been Ottawa's best in the previous two victories.

With Kovalev gone, the Milan Michalek-Jason Spezza-Daniel Alfredsson trio played like the first line they're supposed to be, accounting for three of Ottawa's five goals against the Sabres.

What initially looked to be a greater concern was the status of goalie Pascal Leclaire, who was run over by two players during the second period Saturday. He played the rest of the period but did not return for the third.

The Senators were up 2-1 when Brian Elliott took over in goal.

"(Leclaire) will be fine," said coach Cory Clouston, adding that the injury was not to the ankle that Leclaire had surgically repaired last December.

Clouston did not know whether Leclaire would "be fine" enough to face Alex Ovechkin and the Caps, however.

The Senators did a good job of making Brian Elliott's relief appearance easier Saturday.

They scored three goals in the first eight minutes of the third to pad the lead.

The players on good teams are usually able to pick each other up when needed, which is what the Senators managed to do without Kovalev and Leclaire.

SENATORS 5, SABRES 3: The Senators made it tough on themselves as RW Chris Neil took a double minor with a little more than four minutes left in the third and while they were nursing a two-goal lead. But the penalty-killers survived the shorthanded situation, as they did six of seven times on the night. "Our penalty-killing has done a solid job all year, and once again they came up big," said Neil.

• C Mike Fisher was 15-7 in the faceoff circles as the Senators took an impressive 64 percent of all draws. The performance moved Ottawa up to 21st in the league on faceoffs, with a 48.8 percent success rate.

• The line of Milan Michalek-Jason Spezza-Daniel Alfredsson fired 25 shots toward the Sabres' net. Just 13 actually hit the net; the other 12 were blocked or went wide.

• The Senators didn't allow the Sabres a shot on goal until the 6:44 mark, then were outshot 17-5 in the first. The two Ottawa goalies wound up making 38 saves on the night—24 by Pascal Leclaire in the first two periods and 14 by Brian Elliott in the third.

Quote To Note:

"The forwards are going hard to the net, and it's paying off. They're hungrier, getting screens. There's just more energy."

—D Filip Kuba, on Ottawa's 11 goals against division-leading opponents in the last two games.

Goaltenders:

Pascal Leclaire, Brian Elliott

Defensemen:

Chris Phillips, Brian Lee, Filip Kuba, Chris Campoli, Alexander Picard, Matt Carkner

First Line:

Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson

Second Line:

Nick Foligno, Mike Fisher, Ryan Shannon

Third Line:

Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil

Fourth Line:

Jonthan Cheechoo, Peter Regin, Jesse Winchester

Player Notes:

• D Filip Kuba recorded the first four-point game of his career (one goal, three assists). He's had three three-point games, the last one also coming against the Buffalo Sabres last St. Patrick's Day.

• LW Milan Michalek became the first Senator to hit double digits in the goal-scoring column when he picked up his 10th in the third period. It also proved to be his second game-winner of the season.

• C Jason Spezza broke out of a six-game pointless slump with two assists. He still has just one goal in 18 games. Going into the game, he also had only 41 shots on goal, not nearly enough for a guy with his cannon. "My dad told me to shoot all day yesterday, so that's why I shot more," said Spezza, who fired nine shots toward the goal against the Sabres, four of them missing the target and two getting blocked.

• C Chris Kelly went the first 17 games without a goal and has two in his last two games.

• RW Alex Kovalev missed the game to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law back in Russia. It is unknown whether he'll be back in time for Monday's game against Washington.

Medical Watch:

• LW Shean Donovan is expected to miss at least the next 6-8 weeks after suffering MCL damage in his right knee from a hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke. There is no word yet on whether he also suffered ACL damage, which could jeopardize his season.

• G Pascal Leclaire suffered a "lower body" injury in the second period of Saturday's game against the Sabres and did not play in the third. His status is day-to-day.

• D Anton Volchenkov has missed 10 games with a dislocated right elbow. He's had a minor setback and is expected to return near the end of November.