BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Slowly but surely, things are beginning to turn around for the Buffalo Sabres.

In a battle between the bottom two teams in the Atlantic Division, the Sabres topped the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in a 3-2 victory. It was a complete effort from start to finish from the Sabres, who have enjoyed better performances of late after a dreadful month of November.

Buffalo has points in its last four games (2-0-2) after losing 11 of 12 games (1-9-2).

"I think we're sticking to our game plan a little bit more," said forward Kyle Okposo, one of Buffalo three goal-scorers Tuesday. "We're starting to make a few plays, starting to execute a little bit."

Evander Kane and Benoit Pouliot also scored for the Sabres (8-17-6), with all of Buffalo's goals coming in the second period. Robin Lehner made 24 saves.

"It feels great," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I think the fans, we owe them. They've been very patient. ... We've gotten points in four straight games, we've got a little bit of momentum, and we built off that and started the game the right way. ... Overall, I thought we competed. We talked about that being a divisional game, we're three points closer, we're trying to climb the ladder."

Cody Ceci and Derick Brassard scored for Ottawa in the third period. Mike Condon made 23 saves.

Following a scoreless and uneventful first period, the Sabres broke things open early in the second period with two goals in a span of 1:12.

Pouliot finished an excellent one-man effort 4:13 into the second. He skated around Brassard before sliding a backhand pass through Condon's legs. It was Pouliot's eighth goal of the season.

Okposo made it 2-0 at 5:25 of the second. Center Ryan O'Reilly spotted Okposo cutting into the slot and fed him with a backhand pass from the outside. Okposo buried a one-timer for his fifth goal of the year.

Kane made it 3-0 at 12:33 of the second on a power-play goal. With Zack Smith in the penalty box for hooking, Rasmus Ristolainen spotted Kane inside the right circle for a one-timer, and Kane put home his team-best 14th goal of the season.

Things continue to go from bad to worse for the Senators (9-13-7), who have lost 12 of their past 13 games.

"It's hard to put in words," Condon said. "There was that time there in the second period where we kind of let things get away from us, and I think we ended up paying for it in the end. Showed some grit coming back in the third, but it's been the same story over and over, just one goal short. It's frustrating. Moving on."

The Senators lost six of seven games in a seven-game road trip, with their lone win a 6-5 decision over the New York Islanders on Dec. 1. They have a quick turnaround with a Wednesday game against the New York Rangers.

"It's been a tough road trip for us," Brassard said. "I think it's time for us to go home and regroup and play in front of our fans. I'm not really sure what to say."

Ceci got the Senators on the board 6:43 into the third period. After his initial shot from the slot hit the post, Ceci buried the rebound for his third goal of the year.

Brassard cut Buffalo's lead to one with 51.4 seconds remaining on a long shot from the right point.

A pivotal moment in the game came midway through the second period when the Senators had a two-man advantage for 58 seconds. Ottawa had several quality chances on net, but all were rebuffed by Lehner and the Sabres' defense.

"That's a huge kill for us," Okposo said. "Our penalty kill's been pretty good all year, pretty steady, and that one was a big momentum shift. We kept the momentum in our favor from that."

NOTES: RW Hudson Fasching, D Nathan Beaulieu and D Victor Antipin were scratched for the Sabres. ... D Thomas Chabot was scratched for the Senators. ... This was the first of four meetings this season. The next matchup takes place Feb. 14 in Ottawa. ... The Sabres have points in nine straight meetings against the Senators (7-0-2) for the first time in the all-time series. ... G Robin Lehner was a second-round pick (46th overall) of the Senators in 2009. He played in 86 games for Ottawa before being traded to the Sabres in 2015.