WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Washington Capitals are moving up.

Calle Johansson and rookie Jeff Halpern scored and Olaf Kolzig made 28 saves as the Capitals beat Buffalo 2-1 on Sunday to move into a tie with Florida for the Southeast Division lead.

	Washington's Joe Sacco tries to beat a diving Alexei Zhitnik to the puck.

The Capitals, also tied with Northeast Division-leader Toronto, are just eight points behind New Jersey for the Eastern Conference lead.

"It's amazing," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "We're eight points behind New Jersey, so what the heck? Maybe in a week, we're battling them for first place."

The Capitals went ahead at 13:19 of the first when Jeff Halpern deflected a Steve Konowalchuk centering pass behind goalie Martin Biron. Ulf Dahlen had dumped the puck into the offensive zone.

Calle Johansson made it 2-0 with 1:51 remaining in the third on a breakaway, scoring his seventh goal of the season. Chris Simon created the breakaway with a lead pass.

Biron made 24 saves to keep his team in the game. The Sabres' best chance to tie was Vaclav Varada's shot that Kolzig stopped with a spectacular save. Kolzig's 28 saves came two nights after he had an NHL season-high 52 in a 2-2 tie against Detroit.

"It's going well," Kolzig said. "The guys in front of me are doing the job, and when they aren't, I come up with the save and give them a chance to score at the other end."

Buffalo finally got a goal with 10 seconds left when Stu Barnes flipped a puck past Kolzig during a scramble in front of the net.

With Buffalo behind 1-0, Varada took a slap shot from in between the circles that squirted between the legs of Kolzig, but the Washington goalie was able to dive back and bat the puck away from the goal before it crossed the line.

Sunday's game marked the return of Washington defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who had been out since Feb. 28 with a sore neck. However, his afternoon ended when Michael Peca checked Gonchar with his left shoulder. The check gave Gonchar a bloody nose and blurred vision, and he did not return.

"Mike Peca hits a lot of guys, and if it was a clean hit and if (Gonchar) had had his head completely down then you say 'tip your hat to Mike Peca,"' Wilson said. "But he was three feet in the air."

Wilson went on to say that he would ask the league to review the play. According to the team, the check gave Gonchar a bloody nose and blurred vision, and he did not return.