"There was a strange noise coming from the Sabres' dressing room Tuesday night. It was, believe it or not, laughter.

There was an unfamiliar look on the players' faces, too. They were smiling. Honest to goodness, they were actually smiling.

For once, they had a reason to laugh, grin and feel good about things. For once, they won.

Buffalo ended a pair of long losing streaks with a 2-1 shootout victory over New Jersey, stopping slides of five games overall and 12 straight away from home. Aside from some of Ryan Miller's saves, it wasn't the prettiest of victories, but it was definitely worthy of a good mood as the team broke up for the All-Star break."