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Buffalo, N.Y. • The Detroit Red Wings put Jonas Gustavsson in a tough spot, and the backup goaltender bailed them out.
Gustavsson made 21 saves, including a stop on Steve Ott's penalty shot, and the Red Wings sent the Buffalo Sabres to their fourth straight loss, 3-1 on Sunday.
Tied at 1 with 9:39 gone in the second period, Niklas Kronwall hooked Ott on a breakaway and Buffalo was awarded a penalty shot.
The Sabres captain went left, and Gustavsson stayed with him.
"I didn't actually think he was going to go that way because that's the way he went when he had the first opportunity, but he did," Gustavsson said. "I tried to be patient and follow him and lucky enough, he didn't score."
Johan Franzen, Daniel Alfredsson and Darren Helm scored for the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg had an assist for his 700th career point.
Cody Hodgson scored Buffalo's goal. The Sabres are winless since a victory in interim coach Ted Nolan's first game on Nov. 15.
The Red Wings were playing their third game in four nights but appeared the fresher team against the struggling Sabres.
"We decided to play a really solid game tonight," Franzen said. "We talked about being patient, not giving up too many chances for the other team. I think we stuck to the plan pretty good and finally managed to get the win."
Hurricanes 4, Senators 1 • In Raleigh, N.C., Eric Staal had a goal and two assists for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 35 shots.
Jason Spezza put Ottawa in front with his 10th goal just 67 seconds into the game, but Carolina scored three times in the second period.
Patrick Dwyer, Tuomo Ruutu and rookie Elias Lindholm scored for the Hurricanes, who have won 10 of 11 at home against Ottawa. Staal had an empty-net goal with 2:29 left