MONTREAL — Jaroslav Halak recorded
his second shutout in two nights and the Montreal Canadiens got two key
goals from unexpected sources in a 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on
Saturday night.
Halak stopped 29 shots for his fifth
shutout of the season. Montreal recorded consecutive blankings for the
first time in four years. The Olympian from Slovakia, who has nine NHL
shutouts, made 35 saves in a 1-0 win at Philadelphia on Friday.
The Canadiens got out to a 2-0 lead on
rare goals by Ryan O'Byrne and Tom Pyatt. O'Byrne scored his second
career goal — his first in 100 games — in the first before Pyatt made it
a two-goal lead with his second goal in 37 games in the second.
Sergei Kostitsyn scored in the third
for the Canadiens, who are sixth in the Eastern Conference with 86
points and three games remaining. Montreal is two points ahead of Boston, which has four games left.
Halak hasn't allowed a goal since
Dainius Zubrus scored with 4:41 remaining in New Jersey's 4-2 win at
Montreal last Saturday.
Ryan Miller made 35 saves for Buffalo,
which missed an opportunity to clinch its first Northeast Division
title in three years.
The Sabres, who have four games
remaining, are third in the East with 96 points — five points ahead of Ottawa.
The Senators, second in the Northeast and fifth in the conference, lost
at the New York Islanders on Saturday and have three games left.
Montreal caught a break on the play
that led to the opening goal. The puck struck the netting above the
glass in the right corner but the Sabres kept on playing — despite
Canadiens center Dominic Moore pointing up. O'Byrne then beat Miller
with a shot from the right point for his first goal since March 3, 2008.
Pyatt gave Montreal a 2-0 lead when he
put a rebound of Maxim Lapierre's shot past Miller for his first goal
in 17 games.
Travis Moen nearly made it a
three-goal lead 3:02 into the third when his shot went off the right
post before caroming off Miller's back and into the outside of the net.
Moen got an assist, and Moore added
his second of the game on Kostitsyn's seventh goal at 6:37.
Notes
Eight Canadian Olympic
medalists were introduced to the crowd before the game, including
Charles Hamelin, who won two short track speedskating golds in
Vancouver. … Cristobal Huet was the last Canadiens goalie to record
consecutive shutouts on March 9-11, 2006.