One of the world's greatest hockey players was on display Wednesday night. Oh, and Alexander

Ovechkin played, too.

The Washington Capitals' superstar made one of his two yearly appearances in HSBC Arena, but

he and his streaking team were outshined by the goaltender who is in Buffalo all the time.

Ryan Miller continued his Vezina Trophy season, blanking the Capitals, 3-0, as the Sabres

halted their losing streak at two games. Miller made 35 saves for his fourth shutout of the

season.

This one was superb given the opposition. Washington entered with numbers that would make

any team envious. They had won six straight. They had the fewest regulation losses in the NHL.

They led the league in scoring, and they had allowed two or fewer goals in seven of their past

eight games.

Then they ran into Miller.

"They had some pretty good scoring chances, and Millsie had three or four highlight-reel

saves," Sabres center Tim Kennedy said. "Playing a team like that, that's what you need.

That's why we think he's the best."

Miller showed it numerous times. But he was more impressed with something the Sabres

showed: resiliency. Their latest loss was Monday's 3-0 debacle against New Jersey, and they

spent two days thinking about it.

"We all knew what was at stake," Miller said. "You can't lose three in a row and call

yourself a top team. ... We got back on our feet here."

He brought the fans to their feet, too. The Capitals tried to rally with 12 of the first 13

shots in the final period, but Miller was a rally killer. The 17,982 in attendance rose when

he dived to snare Brendan Morrison's open-net chance with 13:22 remaining. Four minutes later,

the fans came to their feet when he robbed Nicklas Backstrom with another glove save.

"A couple found the mitt in the third, and that was good because they were really buzzing,"

Miller said.

Most of his saves were of the standard variety because of stellar Buffalo defense. Forwards

were coming back to force turnovers by lifting the sticks of streaking Capitals, while

defensemen were pushing Washington to the outside. Ovechkin had just one good scoring chance

and missed the first-period open net.

"Our heads were really into this game," Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder said. "The top

line, if we can eliminate them to as few chances as possible, that's going to be huge for us.

Jochen [Hecht] and Tim Kennedy and [Jason] Pominville were great up front. They were on the

defensive side all game. They backchecked like crazy. Every time [Ovechkin] had the puck he

had two guys on him."

The fans figured, with Ovechkin in town, they'd see a dazzling offensive play. They did,

but it came from a much more unlikely source.

Tallinder got the puck in Buffalo's zone, wheeled behind his net, faked an outlet pass at

center ice, went around Washington's Keith Aucoin and took a shot from the top of the slot.

Jose Theodore stopped it, but Tallinder never stopped moving and buried the rebound late in

the second period to give Buffalo its 3-0 lead.

"Henrik scored a career goal," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

Buffalo defensemen had just six goals entering the game, but Steve Montador joined

Tallinder on the score sheet with a goal 4:06 into the game. Nathan Gerbe, in his 11th NHL

game and first of the season, found the net on the power play in the second.

The win allowed the Sabres to improve to 2-2 on their five-game homestand. It concludes

Friday when Patrick Kane, Brian Campbell and the Chicago Blackhawks return to the arena.

"There was a lot to like about the goals, the way we played, the way we defended," Ruff

said. "That was a big step in the right direction against a very good team."