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BUFFALO — Make it a perfect 10 for the Ottawa Senators.

 Wednesday night’s thrilling 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres extended their franchise-record winning streak into double digits and marked the anniversary of what is turning out to be a crucial moment in team history.

One year ago to the day, Cory Clouston stepped behind the bench for the first time as head coach. Although the Senators lost 1-0 to the Los Angeles Kings on that night, the end result wasn’t indicative of things to come. In fact, they’ve rarely looked back.

The latest victory tied a franchise record for consecutive road wins at six and made Ottawa the sixth team since the NHL lockout to post 10 or more consecutive wins in a single season.

It was a night for individual success, as well. When Jason Spezza opened the scoring with a shot from the face off circle at 13:38 of the second period, he set a team mark with goals in each of his past seven games.

Fans will no doubt appreciate him wiping erstwhile Senator Dany Heatley’s name from the record book there.

It appeared Spezza had locked down the W when he out-waited U.S. Olympic goaltender Ryan Miller and beat him on the glove side at 5:59 of the third period to make it 2-0, but Buffalo quickly responded with goals by Andrej Sekera and Tim Connolly less than 30 seconds apart.

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson played the hero by scoring with a minute to go in regulation and added an empty-netter.

Of all the wins the Senators racked up over the past couple weeks, this one might have been the toughest.

Alfredsson wasn’t splitting hairs, though.

“They’re all hard,” Alfredsson said. “They tied it up and then we got a penalty, as well, and got a big kill. We know Buffalo, they’re a good team and it’s always a hard-fought game. So I think that’s what made us stay focused. We had to stay sharp and we were fortunate to get the goal at the end.”

Brian Elliott also equalled the team record for consecutive wins by a goaltender (eight), which he set last year. He stopped 34 shots, while Miller turned aside 33.

“As a goalie, when you’re winning you benefit with good numbers, and guys are playing really well in front of me, so I have to look to them and thank my D-men right now, for sure,” Elliott said.

And so, the streak goes on.

While the coaching staff would have you believe 10 is nothing more than a nice, round number, the players are clearly enjoying running up the record.

Spezza was pumped up about both his personal streak and the team’s run.

“Definitely, it has been a good stretch for me and I’ve been excited since I’ve come back from injury that things are going well for me and the team,” he said. “It’s definitely a good feeling.”

And why shouldn’t the players be excited? After two seasons of controversy and mediocrity that turned once-ubiquitous sellouts at Scotiabank Place into a rare treat for owner Eugene Melnyk, the city finally has a team to get behind again.

More important than any milestone, however, is the fact the Senators continue to separate themselves from the herd in the Eastern Conference and put themselves in an excellent position to qualify for the postseason after missing out last season.

They now trail the division-leading Sabres by just three points, though they’ve played two more games.

All the pregame stats pointed to another Ottawa victory. The Senators were 23-6-4 against Buffalo since the lockout, including seven straight wins over the past two seasons. The Sabres had also struggled of late, putting up a 2-4-1 record in their previous seven games.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff Ruff acknowledged the Sabres’ struggles, but also pointed to their sparkling 18-5-5 record on home ice.

“I think the fact that we haven’t beat them means that we’ve had a tough time with them — I’m not going to deny that. You can’t get around that,” Ruff said. “I think every game is a new opportunity to shake that, and we’re going to have to play a real good game to beat them.”

They played a good game, but they didn’t beat them.

It appeared the Senators would go down a goal 10 minutes into the game when a Jochen Hecht shot hit Elliott, bounced off his back and fluttered toward the cage. Chris Phillips was there to sweep the puck away, but some replays appeared to show it crossing the line.

The NHL war room in Toronto obviously didn’t feel the video evidence was conclusive enough to overturn the referee’s call of no goal. Either way, it was a close one.

Elliott had to be spectacular early to make up for an apathetic start by the Senators. He turned aside 13 shots in the opening frame — including point-blank chances off the sticks of Derek Roy and Clarke MacArthur — while Miller faced just five.

It was just more of the same for the goaltender who has earned two straight star of the week honours from the NHL.

“We were really flat in that first period,” Clouston said. “I thought they came out with a lot more intensity than we did, but I thought, the last two periods, we started to juggle the lines a little bit, try and create a little more energy on the bench, and I thought we responded very well those last two periods.”

NOTABLE

Chris Phillips was the most-hated Senator of the night after running over Miller behind the net late in the second period. His hit brought boos down from the stands and plenty of attention from the Buffalo skaters. Winger Ryan Shannon had a nice night, putting up two assists. Spezza also had a helper.