OTTAWA - - Robin Lehner let out a huge roar at the final buzzer, but later insisted beating his old team was nothing extra special.

"No matter who we played today, it was a win we needed," Lehner said after making 32 saves in the Buffalo Sabres' 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night.

"We don't want to lose two in a row. We can learn a few things from this game."

In earning his fourth victory of the season, Lehner, who spent six years in the Senators' organization, managed to outlast his former goaltending partner. Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson was also brilliant while making 30 saves on Hockey Fights Cancer night.

Anderson's wife, Nicholle, was recently diagnosed with the dreaded disease.

"I think both goalies played outstanding, and I think both teams played really good as well," Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "It was one of those games we generated a lot, but didn't capitalize on the chances we had.

"When we beat him, he was there anyways."

The Senators held a 1-0 lead after a second period power-play goal by winger Mike Hoffman, who has snapped out of an early season funk with three goals in his last four games. But the Sabres bounced back with a pair in the third, as winger Kyle Okposo notched his fifth of the year at the 1:07 mark and center Sam Reinhart jammed one in the short side for what proved to be the winner with 11:38 left.

The goal was the second of the season for Reinhart, who later heaped praise on Lehner.

"That's a big reason why we win," Reinhart said. "He was the one guy for the full 60 minutes who gave his all, and was really a big reason why we won that game."

Lehner's best save of the night was in the first period off Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who broke in alone, moved the puck to his backhand, and took a shot that was stopped by the goalie's stick.

"It was a great save," Pageau said. "I thought I had him and he put the paddle (down) at the end. Obviously, next time I'll try to get it up. But it was a good save."

The Senators had numerous chances to build on Hoffman's goal in the second, but Lehner blocked the other 14 shots he faced in the period.

"When it was 1-0 we got unbelievable scoring chances manufactured by our players, nothing lucky, and we weren't able to bury," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "At that point, 2-0 and 3-0 it easily could have been."

Okposo and center Ryan O'Reilly each had five shots on the Senators goal. O'Reilly was stoned twice in the first period by Anderson.

"When you're not at your best, you find ways to win," Okposo said. "I thought we did a really good job of that tonight. We stuck with it. We regrouped after the second period and knew what we had to do coming out in the third and we went and executed."

The Senators had a four-minute power play in the third winger Bobby Ryan took a stick in the face from Sabres defenseman Dmitry Kulikov at the 9:46. But their inability to get the equalizer wasn't all because of Lehner.

"It was obviously not one of our best (power plays)," Hoffman said. "We couldn't get set up, kind of everyone in the wrong positions."

Added winger Mark Stone: "Towards the end of the game when you get that, you've got to bear down and get looks. And we didn't really generate anything off of it."

The loss snapped the Senators' winning streak at three games, leaving them with an 7-4-0 record. Buffalo improved to 5-4-1.

Over the last four games, Lehner has allowed five goals.

"He's a battler," Okposo said. "The last few games he's played he's just been battling for us and making big saves. He made so many huge saves tonight. His athleticism is really good. It's allowing him to make some of those saves."

And his teammates knew it was special for him to beat the Senators.

"I'm sure any time you play your old team, you want to show that they made a mistake or whatever," Okposo said. "You get a little bit of extra motivation."

Asked if he could tell Lehner relished the win over Ottawa, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma nodded.

"Absolutely," he said. "Absolutely I can tell that."

The Sabres play in Boston on Monday then return home to meet the Senators again on Wednesday. The Senators face the Predators in Nashville on Tuesday.

NOTES: Senators G Chris Driedger has been returned to the American Hockey League team in Binghamton, leaving the goaltending duties to Craig Anderson and Mike Condon. Coach Guy Boucher said of Anderson: "When he's here, he's in." When he's not with the team, Anderson will be with his wife Nicholle as she battles cancer. ... Senators G Andrew Hammond is getting closer to making his return from a groin injury. ... With Senators D Chris Wideman out with an upper body injury, D Fredrik Claesson took his place in the lineup for the second consecutive game. ... Senators C Max McCormick was a healthy scratch ... Listed as the Sabres scratches were D Zach Bogosian (knee), W Nicolas Deslauriers (knee) and W Hudson Fasching (groin). All three are injured ... During warmup, Sabres W Marcus Foligno skated by Anderson and tapped him on the pads as a show of support.