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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Miroslav Satan put trade rumors aside long enough to help the Buffalo Sabres end a four-game losing streak.

Satan scored the go-ahead goal with 7:45 left and set up two others to spark the Sabres to a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.

The performance came during a week in which there has been increasing speculation that Satan could be dealt before Tuesday's NHL trade deadline.

Satan said he's heard the rumors but remains unaffected.

"Whatever happens, happens," said Satan, the Sabres' leading scorer during his seven-plus-year tenure in Buffalo. "There might be a chance that it could be my last game."

Satan capped his night with a curious wave to the fans after he was named the game's first star.

"What can I say?" Satan said, when asked about his gesture.

Chris Drury scored twice and Maxim Afinogenov added a goal for a Sabres team in need of a boost. Buffalo was coming off a 7-1 loss at Ottawa on Saturday and had been outscored 23-6 in four games.

The Sabres still have slim postseason hopes as they moved into a tie with Florida, eight points behind the New York Islanders in the race for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff berth.

Daniel Alfredsson scored twice and Marian Hossa once for the Senators, who entered the game in a four-way tie for first place in the East but slipped two points behind Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. The loss also prevented Jacques Martin from becoming the 16th coach to win 400 NHL games.

Despite owning one of the NHL's best records, the Senators (35-17-9-5) finished the season 1-3-2 against the Sabres, 0-2-1 at Buffalo.

"We knew it was a big game," Senators forward Mike Fisher said. "We have to start winning and create some space, but it's tough."

Martin lamented that the team had too many turnovers and that it squandered a 3-2 second-period lead.

"We had a game in hand we let slip away," he said.

The Sabres also gave away two one-goal leads before rallying.

Afinogenov scored on a partial break to tie the score with 4:09 left in the second.

Satan then sparked the winning play, getting to a turnover at the Sabres' blue line, and passing the puck to Jochen Hecht for an odd-man rush. Hecht crossed the Senators line and sent a pass to Satan, who snapped a shot from the right circle that deflected in off the skate of Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden.

The goal was Satan's team-leading 25th.

Buffalo's Martin Biron stopped 31 shots, including kicking out his left pad to stop Redden in the final 10 seconds.

Drury's first two-goal game since joining Buffalo last summer came on a day in which he was named the Sabres' captain of the month for March.

"Us coming down to make-or-break time with the standings, and whether I had the 'C' or not, I was hoping to have a good game and it was nice," Drury said. "As long as we're still in it, we're going to keep fighting and clawing."

Drury put the Sabres up 2-1 with a power-play goal in the final seconds of the first period. The teams then traded leads by combining for three goals in a 69-second span, which left the score tied at 3 after two periods.

Hossa and Alfredsson scored 43 seconds apart to put the Senators up 3-2. Afinogenov tied it 26 seconds later, using Derek Roy's feed to break in alone on Patrick Lalime.

Game notes

Sabres D James Patrick returned after missing 15 games with a neck injury. ... Senators D Todd Simpson returned after missing five games with a strained right shoulder. ... Senators RW Martin Havlat served the second game of a two-game suspension for cross-checking Philadelphia's Mark Recchi on Thursday. Havlat is eligible to return for Friday's game at Philadelphia.