BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres finally found a way to beat Sidney Crosby.

Cal O'Reilly scored in a shootout to lead the Sabres to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo had lost nine in a row against Pittsburgh and 15 straight when Crosby was in the lineup. The last time the Sabres defeated the Penguins with Crosby was Dec. 29, 2009. Since then, the Sabres have undergone an ownership change, shuffled the front office twice and changed coaches three times.

"It doesn't really matter at this point in time who it's against, but a win we desperately needed against one of the better teams, if not the best team in the league," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said.

Anders Nilsson made 46 saves and William Carrier scored his first NHL goal for the Sabres (6-8-4), who snapped a six-game winless streak and prevailed in a shootout for the first time this season.

Nilsson, the backup to Robin Lehner, is now third in the NHL with a .951 save percentage in five games this season. He is averaging 35.2 saves with a 1.74 goals-against average.

"The way he played, he deserved that win," O'Reilly said. "To be able to get it for him is huge."

Crosby scored his 12th goal in 12 games, tying Winnipeg's Patrik Laine for the NHL lead, and giving him 50 points in 32 career games against Buffalo.

"It's just one of those games where you leave feeling like you deserve better," Crosby said. "Ultimately, you have to find a way to bury a few chances."

Marc-Andre Fleury made six of his 25 saves in overtime for the Penguins (11-4-3), who closed out a three-game road trip and were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

"Obviously, when you generate close to 50 shots, you hope you'd score more goals," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "It was one of those nights where we just couldn’t seem to find the back of the net."

The Sabres have scored one or fewer regulation goals in six of their past eight games and are the lowest-scoring team in the NHL.

"We wanted to play a tight game and we wanted to be comfortable in a tight game," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "That's what we wanted the game to be, and I thought our guys did a great job battling within that framework."

Nilsson made saves against Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. He made four of his saves in overtime, including one on a Letang breakaway.

O'Reilly scored his sixth career shootout goal and third shootout winner.

Crosby scored the tying goal on a power play with 14:14 remaining in the third period. Just nine seconds after Buffalo's Cody Franson went to the penalty box for interference, Chris Kunitz collected the rebound off Malkin's shot from the point and set up Crosby for a sliding snap shot from the right slot.

The Penguins controlled the action throughout the first two periods, outshooting the Sabres 27-16, but could not generate a goal. Nilsson made 18 saves in the first period.

The Penguins kept the puck in the offensive zone for a stretch of more than three minutes in the second period but still couldn't put one past Nilsson.

"We had plenty of opportunities to score, it just didn't go in for us," Sullivan said. "We're grabbing points here along the way, we're winning games. We would have liked to come out with two points tonight. It didn't happen, but certainly I thought our team played the game the right way."

Carrier gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead 8:16 into the first period when he deflected Taylor Fedun's shot from the point and the puck trickled between Fleury's pads.

NOTES: Penguins RW Patric Hornqvist missed his second straight game with a concussion. LW Tom Sestito and D Steve Oleksy were healthy scratches. ... C Ryan O'Reilly (oblique), C Jack Eichel (ankle), D Dmitry Kulikov (lower back) and D Zach Bogosian (knee) remain out indefinitely for Buffalo. ... F Cal O'Reilly and F Cole Schneider entered the Sabres lineup after being recalled from the minors earlier Saturday. ... The NHL credited Penguins RW Phil Kessel with an assist after reviewing Fridaynight's 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers, raising his team-leading total to 12 entering Saturday's game. ... Linesman Greg Devorski was honored for officiating his 1,500th NHL game. ... Buffalo is 4-0-2 when leading after the first period.