BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jason Pominville
and Thomas Vanek scored in the shootout after Buffalo rallied with two
late third-period goals, giving the Sabres a 3-2 victory over the
Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Tim Connolly scored a power-play goal
with 1:59 left in regulation, and Steve Montador tied it with 47.9
seconds left and goalie Ryan Miller off for an extra attacker. Miller
made with 26 saves to help the Sabres win their fourth straight game.
Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice, and
Carey Price, making his first start since being benched after allowing
three first-period goals against Anaheim seven games ago, made 40 saves
for Montreal. The Canadiens have lost three straight.
The Canadiens, 4-1-2 in their last
seven on the road, received a boost with the return of leading scorer
Mike Cammalleri and defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron from injuries.
Bergeron assisted in Kostitsyn's second goal.
Connolly scored with Buffalo on the
power play, and with Miller out for an extra attacker, to pull the
Sabres to within a goal, and Montador scored his first of the season in a
scramble in front of Price to tie it at 2.
Kostitsyn popped in his second of the
game on the power play 4:57 into the second period to stretch Montreal's
lead to 2-0. From the left circle he wheeled around and wristed a shot
that handcuffed Miller.
Kostitsyn staked Montreal scored just
41 seconds into the game. Wide open and standing to the right of Miller,
Kostitsyn easily tapped in Tomas Plekanec's pass from the left of the
net.
Notes
Kostitsyn snapped a 13-game
goal drought. … The Sabres opened a three-game-in-four-night
home stand. … Cammalleri had missed the past 17 games because of a knee
injury, while Bergeron was forced to miss 15 games with a knee injury.
… Montreal LW Travis Moen didn't play after he was cut on the face by a
skate in the Canadiens loss to Ottawa on Monday night. … Buffalo left
wing Raffi Torres missed his third straight game because of an
undisclosed injury. … Connolly missed the last half of the first
period after being hit in the face by Kostitsyn's clearing attempt.