GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jaroslav Spacek was in the dressing room with an injury. Nathan Paetsch was in the penalty box for 19 minutes. The absences made the Buffalo Sabres' defensive corps look like a squirt team with too few kids, as the same four players kept going out for shift after shift.

One other thing remained constant, though. Neither Craig Rivet, Toni Lydman, Chris Butler nor Marc-Andre Gragnani had to take a puck out of his own net during the long stretch of labor. It helps when Ryan Miller is on his game.

The Sabres' fought through another injury to their black and blue line, dispatching the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-0, on Saturday night. Miller made 28 saves, including 15 in the first period, as the Sabres rebounded from a slow start with two second-period goals. It was a solid treat for their vocal influx of fans among the 16,253 in Jobing.com Arena.

"We knew we had to stay smart and not waste any extra energy," Lydman said. "The most important thing is keep it short. If you get a chance to change, you change. I thought we did a good job not doing stupid things out there."

Spacek suffered a hip injury and played just 4:04. He went to the dressing room after leveling Phoenix's Enver Lisin with a big hit just 7:46 into the game. He played just one 22-second shift late in the first period before retiring for the night and said, "We'll see," about returning for Monday's game in Anaheim.

The Sabres head to Southern California 3-2 on their six-game road trip and as winners of five of the past seven games.

The injuries to the blue line are accumulating at a rate not seen since the 2006 playoffs, when the Sabres went into Game Seven of the Eastern Conference finals using the 10th player on the depth chart.

The forwards also caught the injury bug, as Jochen Hecht missed the third period. He was blindsided by a hit earlier in the game and experienced blurry vision, and also is taking a wait-and-see approach to Monday's game.

The first period was possibly the most physical one the Sabres have been involved in this season. Hard hits (and attempts at hard hits) were plentiful, starting the moment Patrick Kaleta hit the ice in his first game since Dec. 19. He certainly wasn't worried about his neck injury because he engaged in a spirited fight with the Coyotes' Daniel Carcillo.

The teams combined for 23 hits and 42 penalty minutes in the opening 20 minutes.

"It was a great team game there," Kaleta said. "We did everything we had to do. We tightened up the defense with a couple guys short there."

The Coyotes took 11 of the first 12 shots and had a 15-6 edge after one period.

Miller kept the game scoreless, however, and had his finest moment with 6:45 left. Ales Kotalik fell at the blue line on a Sabres power play, providing Joakim Lindstrom and Shane Doan with a two-on-one. Lindstrom one-timed Doan's cross-ice return pass, but Miller slid across and got his toe on the shot to knock it away.

"He showed his hand as a pass, not a shot," Miller said. "I stayed on my feet and ended up getting there in time."

The Sabres gained momentum in the decisive second period. Once again, it was the line of Tim Connolly, Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek that got them moving.

The trio was applying pressure when Rivet tossed the puck on net. Stafford and Vanek poked at it and goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, and the puck squirted free along the goal line. Connolly swooped in for his seventh goal in the past six games.

Derek Roy set up Daniel Paille midway through the frame to double the Sabres' lead to 2-0. Roy abused Coyotes defenseman Ken Klee deep in the Phoenix zone and set up Paille with a one-timer with 11:16 to go.

The two goals came as part of a 10-shot period, while the Coyotes generated just three against the depleted Sabres.

The third period belonged to Miller as he withstood the Coyotes' 10 shots.

"The second and third we got a great effort from our defense and our offense," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We were really locked on."