Four different Canadiens notched goals Saturday night as Montreal earned a hard-fought 4-3 home win over the Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo Sabres.
Michael Ryder, Radek Bonk, Maxim Lapierre and Saku Koivu scored for the Canadiens in the fast-paced affair, while Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves.
Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak battles for the puck with Sabres forward Adam Mair during the second period of Saturday's game in Montreal.
(Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)
Koivu scored 3:22 into the third, coming off the bench and intercepting Ales Kotalik's clearing attempt before driving the net and beating Ty Conklin with a shot into the top right corner that made it 4-2.
"He's a great player," Canadiens defenceman Sheldon Souray said. "He reads the play very well and he was anticipating that play and was able to pick off a pass and he made a great shot to put it in the top shelf. We really needed that."
Daniel Briere, Thomas Vanek and former Canadien Dainius Zubrus had the Sabres' goals, and Conklin stopped 15 shots in his second start for Buffalo since being acquired from Columbus at the trade deadline.
The win, which came following a 5-2 setback Friday night in Ottawa, was the eighth in 10 games for Montreal (41-32-6). Buffalo (50-21-7) lost in regulation time for only the second time in 10 contests.
Montreal is clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East with 88 points — one better than Toronto, which kept pace with an overtime win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night and has a game in hand on Montreal.
The Canadiens are four points clear of Carolina and the New York Islanders, who are tied for 10th. The Islanders fell to Ottawa on Saturday night.
Sabres close in on top seed
Montreal remains within striking distance of sixth-place Tampa Bay, which has 90 points after beating Washington on Saturday, and the seventh-place New York Rangers, who have 89 and a game in hand following a win over Washington.
Buffalo, which has four games left, remained atop the NHL's overall standings with 107 points, one ahead of Detroit and Anaheim. The only teams that can catch them for first place in the East are Ottawa, which has 102 points and three games remaining, and New Jersey, with 100 points and four games left.
"You don't want to wait until the last game to clinch first place, you want to do it right away," Sabres forward Derek Roy said. "Tonight we went out and we wanted to win this game. We didn't let down at all."
After Briere opened the scoring midway through the first period, Montreal answered with consecutive goals by Ryder, Bonk and Lapierre to surge to a 3-1 lead near the end of the second. But Vanek's goal with 1:01 remaining cut Buffalo's deficit to 3-2 at the intermission.
Koivu and Zubrus traded goals in the first half of the third period before Sabres forward Drew Stafford appeared to tie the game with under five minutes remaining. But referee Wes McCauley ruled — and replays confirmed — that the puck had been kicked in.
Buffalo had a final chance to tie it with a faceoff in the Montreal end with five seconds left. But Bonk won the draw against Sabres face-off ace Chris Drury and the Canadiens cleared the zone to secure the victory.
"They came back and we knew they weren't going to quit," Souray said. "We made it close at the end but we still managed to stay with it and we were able to get the results."
