NEW YORK — Two offensively challenged teams spent Sunday night in a futile attempt to

solve two goaltenders just off appearances in the Winter Olympics. The offenses were no match.

In the end, Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres outdueled Henrik Lundqvist and the New York

Rangers. In a game that was scoreless for the first 54 minutes, the Sabres pulled out

a 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden on Patrick Kaleta's goal at 2:22 of overtime.

The Sabres snapped their 0-6-2 skid on the road, winning away from HSBC Arena for the first

time since Jan. 18 at Phoenix and taking a two-point lead over idle Ottawa in the Northeast

Division.

They are scheduled to be off Monday and return to action Wednesday against Dallas in HSBC

Arena. Miller, meanwhile, will stay in the Big Apple for several post-Olympic media

appearances, highlighted by a live interview Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show slated for

8:30 a.m.

The national folks are still going to be talking about the Olympics and probably won't

spend any time on Miller's most recent activity in his real job. But he's been terrific since

the Games ended, stopping 99 of 104 shots in three games since coming back from Vancouver.

Miller made 35 saves Sunday and was 83 seconds away from a shutout that would have been his

career-high sixth of the season. But Brandon Dubinsky's power-play goal pulled the Rangers

into a 1-1 tie and forced OT.

In the past, maybe the Sabres buckle. Bad times would get them down. But they showed grit

in pulling out a 3-2 overtime win Friday over Philadelphia and displayed similar mettle

Sunday.

"That seems to be the difference between playoff teams and teams that don't make it,"

Miller said. "The prior two seasons, we weren't coming back to win these games, weren't

hanging in long enough. The last two games weren't the prettiest, the type of game where we

didn't have the kind of lead you would hope for but you grind it out and you can get two

points."

Easily the best save of the night was made by Miller, who stopped Marian Gaborik's mid-air

tip of a Dan Gilroy shot from the right point with 4:17 left in the second period. Miller was

on his knees moving to his right and was able to contort his body back to the left to stop the

skidding puck with his pad.

Kaleta got the game-winner by driving to the net. Lundquist made one stop, but Kaleta

circled the goal and banked the puck off Lundquist's right pad for his ninth of the season.

Three of Kaleta's goals this season, a third of his total, are at MSG. So what gives?

"I don't know but I like it," said a smiling Kaleta. "Some buildings you feel better than

others. This year, I've been fortunate enough to put some home here."

Coach Lindy Ruff said Kaleta was on the ice partly because of his memory over the Angola

native's two-goal game here Dec. 12.

"He's got real good speed and in overtime, you're looking for the guys that can get up ice

and can get back," Ruff said. "It was a little bit of a hunch really putting him out there."

"That's awesome," Kaleta said. "I think maybe I had one shift in overtime besides tonight

this year. But when I'm called upon, I've got to perform."

The Rangers were coming off Saturday's 2-0 loss at Washington and entered the game 25th in

the NHL in goals. The Sabres, meanwhile, were 23rd and featured a power play that was in a

1-for-29 slump the last nine games and added two more no-shows on this night.

It took until 14:03 of the third period for someone to score as Adam Mair broke the

scoreless drought for Buffalo, chipping home a give-and-go pass from Derek Roy just 16 seconds

after coming out of the penalty box.

"It kind of takes the pressure off the top guys when there's other people putting the puck

in the net," Mair said.

And the Sabres always have pressure taken off because Miller is golden when it comes to

stopping the puck.