BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -With the game on the line, the Buffalo penalty killers came up big.

Ryan Miller made 28 saves, and the Sabres killed off a late 5-minute penalty to snap a two-game losing streak in a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

Ahead by a goal but down a man and without one of their best penalty killers, the Sabres erased a major boarding penalty on Clarke MacArthur with 6:15 left. MacArthur was given the penalty, along with a game misconduct, after ramming Oilers forward Liam Reddox headfirst into the boards.

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The Sabres allowed just two shots and had two blocks during a kill that was missing Mike Grier, who had left earlier in the period because of a groin injury. The defensive-minded Grier is day-to-day.

``The guys did a fantastic job of trying to be real aggressive on the puck carriers,' Buffalo captain Craig Rivet said. ``We were able to get through it.'

Reddox, meanwhile, will need X-rays on a swollen wrist after a violent collision with the boards. He also sustained a cut on his face.

``Watching it on tape, (MacArthur) knew exactly what he was doing,' Oilers coach Pat Quinn said. ``I don't have anything to say on it. His head got smacked, and he took a pretty nasty hit.'

Drew Stafford, Steve Montador and Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres (10-4-1), 6-2-1 at home.

Tim Connolly also added a pair of assists in Buffalo's fourth straight win over Edmonton.

After an 8-1-1 start, the Sabres found themselves slumping after losing three of four. But they rebounded and killed off six of Edmonton's seven power-play opportunities.

``We were scrambling around,' Edmonton forward Patrick O'Sullivan said. ``That's the way it's been lately - not quite able to get the goal when we needed it.'

O'Sullivan scored the lone Edmonton goal, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 23 saves for the Oilers (8-9-2), who have lost five of six.

O'Sullivan also hit two posts in the game, the first coming midway through the second period, and the second with less than 2 minutes to go during the long power play.

``The one positive thing is we're playing a lot harder,' he said. ``We didn't get the result tonight, but we certainly applied more pressure and limited the other team's shots.'

Stafford opened the scoring with 4:29 left in the first period when he lifted a backhander from in tight over Khabibulin's left shoulder for his team-leading fifth goal.

Buffalo made it 2-0 when Montador fired a slap shot from the right circle for his first goal of the season, scored at 7:34 of the second.

While the Oilers were on a two-man advantage, O'Sullivan cut the deficit in half with his third goal. He one-timed a feed from Ales Hemsky with 2:11 left in the middle period.

Hecht capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 19 seconds to go.

``We took some penalties we didn't want to take, but we'll move forward,' Miller said. ``Our desperation was really high and I thought we did a great job of holding on for the win.'

NOTES: The Sabres are 4-0 against Western Conference teams. ... Hemsky, Edmonton's second-leading scorer, returned after missing two games because of a shoulder injury. ... Khabibulin has started all but three games for Edmonton. ... The Oilers are 1-7 when the opposition scores first. ... Sabres LW Thomas Vanek was whistled for three penalties.