Ryan Miller made 43 saves in regulation and overtime and turned aside three attempts in a shootout, and Ales Kotalik scored the lone goal in the tiebeaker in the Buffalo Sabres' 2-1 victory against the New York Rangers last night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

Derek Roy scored in regulation for Buffalo. The Sabres (21-15-5) have won four in a row for the first time since starting the season 4-0.

Kotalik's wrister blew past Rangers backup goalie Steve Valiquette in the first round of the shootout. Miller ended the game by stopping former Buffalo star Chris Drury's attempt in the third round.

Miller, making his sixth consecutive start, was especially solid in the second period, keeping the Sabres in the game despite an 11-1 shot disadvantage in the first 14 minutes of the period.

Paul Mara scored for New York (24-15-4), which lost it second in a row and third in the past four games.

Valiquette finished with 32 saves in just his eighth start of season for the Rangers, who began a five-game trip.

• Blue Jackets 3, Capitals 0: Steve Mason made 45 saves for the sixth shutout of his rookie season and injury-depleted Columbus beat host Washington, ending the Capitals' winning streak at seven. R.J. Umberger, Fedor Tyutin and Jared Boll scored, and Manny Maholtra had two assists for the Blue Jackets, playing without eight regulars.

• Sharks 4, Oilers 1: Patrick Marleau had two goals, Devin Setoguchi added a goal and two assists and visiting San Jose hit the 30-win mark in its 40th game.

• Blues 6, Canucks 4: Brad Boyes scored a power-play goal with 2:10 left as visiting St. Louis defeated Vancouver.

• Lightning 4, Ducks 3: Ryan Malone scored his second goal of the game with 9:10 left in the third to put visiting Tampa Bay ahead for good, and Martin St. Louis added a goal and two assists in the win against Anaheim.