The Buffalo Sabres finished off the top-seeded Ottawa Senators with yet another overtime goal.

Jason Pominville scored a short-handed goal 2:26 into the extra period, Ryan Miller made 34 saves and Buffalo beat host Ottawa, 3-2, last night to advance to the Eastern Conference final against the winner of the Carolina-New Jersey series.

With Jay McKee in the penalty box for tripping Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson 1:44 into the extra period, Pominville burst down the left side and cut in front of goalie Ray Emery to tuck the puck past the Ottawa rookie and give Buffalo its third overtime winner of the series.

All five games were decided by one goal in the series that featured a tie score or a one-goal lead for all but 1:40 of total play.

Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder scored his first career playoff goal 33 seconds in and co-captain Chris Drury added a power-play goal 7:56 into the second to put Buffalo up, 2-1.

Senators defenseman Brian Pothier scored for the second game in a row on a power play at 13:59 of the second to tie it at 2. Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson got his second goal of the playoffs -- his first of the series -- on a 5-on-3 midway through the first.

Buffalo, which finished fourth in the East, three points behind conference top-seed Ottawa in the Northeast Division, will face either No. 2 Carolina or No. 3 New Jersey in its first conference final since 1999.

The Sabres, who lost the conference final to Washington in 1998, defeated Toronto in five games that year to reach the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in their history.

The Senators, who finished with 113 points and led the league with 314 goals, finished another disappointing playoffs after building up great expectations with a dominant regular season performance to reach the postseason for the ninth consecutive season.

Other game

Devils 5, Hurricanes 1: Plagued by bad bounces and misfortune throughout the first three games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Hurricanes, the Devils busted out with three first-period goals -- all by their maligned special teams -- and cruised to a 5-1 victory that forced the best-of-seven series back to Carolina. Scott Gomez scored twice, and Sergei Brylin's goal 44 seconds into the middle frame made it 4-0 and chased rookie goalie Cam Ward, who paced Carolina's seven-game winning streak that ended in a big way.