SABRES 101

The Buffalo Sabres squandered two leads in falling 4-3 in a shootout Friday to the Montreal Canadiens – and also falling into 15th and last place in the Eastern Conference.

The Sabres came out of the locker room applying heavy pressure, firing four early shots in the first four minutes. The fourth one went in, as Robyn Regehr utilized a Nathan Gerbe screen to beat Carey Price for his first goal as a Sabre. The Canadiens tied the score at 1-1 near the period's midway point, as Tomas Kaberle snuck behind the defense to tip a pass past Ryan Miller just after a power play that had kept the puck in Buffalo's zone for pretty much an entire two minutes.

The Sabres didn't stop pressing, though, and Tyler Myers crashed the net from the point to make the score 2-1. With all three Sabres forward whiffing on a loose puck around the Montreal net and tying up Montreal defenders – Myers zoomed in and fired a slap shot over Price's shoulder with four minutes left in the period. The Canadiens once again applied unrelenting pressure on a power play just before the end of the period, scoring with one second left on the man advantage – and 11 seconds left in the period – as Scott Gomez rifled a point shot off of Regehr and past Miller to send the teams off the ice with a 2-2 score. The Sabres outshot the Habs in the first 20 minutes, 11-9.

The second period was largely quiet through 10 minutes, with only a combined six shots taken (four by Buffalo). Zach Kassian carried the puck into the Montreal zone at the period's halfway point, but despite a three-on-one advantage he failed to do anything except skate behind the net and cough the puck up. Montreal took it the other way, and Chris Campoli nudged the puck past Miller to give the Habs their first lead of the night. That was the only goal in what proved to be a fairly lackluster second stanza, with Buffalo maintaining the lead in shots on goal at 18-13.

Buffalo continued to apply pressure in the third period, firing six shots to Montreal's one through the first 10 minutes – but, as has painfully been the case all season, the Sabres could not cash one opportunity in. Tyler Ennis finally did at the 12-minute mark, though, burying a Ville Leino pass to the the score at 3-3. That goal was enough to send the game into overtime, with the shots being 27-19 for Buffalo.

Buffalo kept the puck in Montreal's zone for much of the extra session, firing two shots in the first four minutes. Montreal took a tripping penalty with 58 seconds left, but the Sabres couldn't do anything with the abbreviated four-on-three advantage, so the game went to a shootout.

Brad Boyes was stopped to open the shootout, and Max Pacioretty eeked a shot between Miller's legs to give Montreal the edge. Jason Pominville was also stopped, and David Desharnais beat Miller to claim victory for Montreal.

Carolina's 3-2 win Friday over San Jose means that, with the loss, Buffalo is now in last place in the Eastern Conference. Carolina is 22-25-11 (55 points), while Buffalo is 24-28-7 (55 points); Carolina holds the tie-breaker.

The Sabres will next play the Pittsburgh Penguins in a nationally televised game Sunday afternoon in the second game of a four-game homestand.

Related Videos

Related posts

• Buffalo Sabres Edge Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in Shootout
• Buffalo Sabres Beat Montreal Canadiens 3-1, Begin Much-Desired Winning Streak
• Buffalo Sabres Beat New York Islanders in Shootout, 4-3