Senators forward Jason Spezza beats netminder Ryan Miller for a breakaway goal in a 4-2 loss at Buffalo on Tuesday night. (Dean Duprey/Associated Press)

The Ottawa Senators reunited the formidable trio of Jason Spezza flanked by Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, but it wasn't nearly enough as they fell 4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena on Tuesday night.

Buffalo stormed out to a 3-0 lead before Spezza scored twice in a span of 32 seconds early in the second period.

The Senators outshot the Sabres 11-4 in the third period and 33-26 overall, but Thomas Vanek clinched the win with a power-play goal, an empty-netter with 27 seconds remaining.

"It's tough," Spezza said. "We're struggling."

Ottawa prevailed in its four previous visits to Buffalo, including a 5-2 win on Oct. 27.

The Senators have posted a dreadful 4-13-3 record on the road this season, including 1-5-1 on their current eight-game trek, which concludes Thursday at Boston.

They have lost 15 of their last 16 road tilts.

"We're in other teams' buildings and things aren't going our way," Spezza said. "It hasn't been a fun trip."

Adding to the misery is a possible suspension and/or fine for forward Jarkko Ruutu, who chomped on the gloved thumb of Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters during a scuffle between the benches 13:13 into the first period.

"Nothing happened there," said Ruutu, who was not penalized. "His fingers were by my mouth, but I didn't bite him."

Peters yelped in pain as he was bit and promptly pursued Ruutu, earning an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for his efforts.

"It's a pretty goofy thing that happened," Peters said. "It's not the injury, it's the incident.

"Just the fact that that happened, it's unfortunate. It's not good for the game of hockey."

Alfredsson finished with two assists for the Senators (13-18-6), losers of three straight games and six of their last seven.

Derek Roy had one goal and two assists for the Sabres (20-15-5), who skated to a third consecutive victory.

"Let's hope we can keep stringing these together and getting a good feeling about what it means to play as a team," Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said.

'Not the way to start'

Matt Ellis opened the scoring 15 seconds into the contest, and Drew Stafford notched Buffalo's second goal late in the first period.

Ellis was stationed in the slot when he took a pass from Paul Gaustad and beat Senators netminder Alex Auld high to the glove side for his fourth goal of the season.

It remained 1-0 until Stafford sliced past defenceman Jason Smith and slid a backhand shot behind Auld for his ninth with 3:59 left in the period.

"For a team that's obviously fragile right now, that's not the way to start," Senators head coach Craig Hartsburg said.

Buffalo scored again 5½ minutes into the second period, with Roy receiving credit for his 14th during a frenzied scramble in front.

Roy took a whack at a loose puck in the crease and it struck the right skate of Senators forward Mike Fisher and bounced into the net.

Spezza trimmed it to 3-1 on a slick play, controlling the puck behind the net and banking in a shot between Miller and the left post.

Heatley then pounced on a turnover and sprung Spezza, who beat Miller between the pads for a breakaway goal 7:34 into the period.

Spezza's second goal of the game gave him 17 on the season.

"Two is enough for him," Miller quipped.

With files from the Canadian Press