Habs Send Sabres Golfing Early

Carey Price snags one from Derek Roy; The Habs win and end the Sabres chances for "post-season dancing".

The Buffalo Sabres had their season on the line tonight in Montreal, and they came out flat for 40 minutes, eventually surging in the third; however, it was too litte, too late for Buffalo, who suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Canadiens to officially put an end to their post-season aspirations.

Carey Price was stellar once again, stopping 27 of the 28 shots fired his way.

Despite the slow start for Buffalo, they had some quality chances on Price as the game progressed, and threw everything but the kitchen sink at Price in the third, only being able to get one by him late in the third with Miller pulled for a 5-on-3 advantage (more on that later).

Montreal struck quickly midway through the first, scoring two goals in 40 seconds to take a 2-0 lead.

Higgins opened the scoring on a power play 11:28 in when he beat Miller by re-directing a Mark Streit point shot for his 25th of the season and 50th point overall.

The soldout Bell Centre crowd of 21,273 was still celebrating the Canadiens' opening goal when Smolinski made it a two-goal lead with his seventh goal at 12:08., taking a nifty - yet surely unintentional - feed from Steve Begin from below the goalline and off of the side frame of Miller's net right onto his stick, and releasing a slapshot past Miller's blocker-side.

'Smoke' - as our good friend Karl likes to call him here at HabsHockeyTalkey - then added his second of the game late in the second, converting his own rebound through a maze of Sabres and Habs and through Miller's wickets along the ice, making it 3-0.

As previosuly mentionned, Ales Kotalik would break Price's shutout bid with 8:30 to play in regulation, as the Sabres cashed in on a 4-on-3 opportunity which was in essence a 5-on-3 as coach Lindy Ruff pulled goalie Ryan Miller to attempt the comeback. Kotalik one-timed a Derek Roy feed from the slot that beat Price low and to his left. The goal was the first allowed by Montreal since Jiri Tlusty's goal in Toronto's 4-2 victory over Montreal last Saturday.

The Habs had great opportunites to add to the goal scoring in this game, as Plekanec was stifled by Miller's stick on a breakaway, Andrei Kostitsyn rang a wrister off the post past a downed Miller, and Josh Gorges ran out of real-estate to complete a manoeuvre that would've landed him his 1st NHL goal.

Matt D'Agostini made his NHL debut tonight, taking a penalty on his first shift, cutting his own nose on a follow through of a bodycheck, and nearly collecting an assist on a sweet no-look pass from behind Miller's goal to Sergei Kostitsyn, who was eventually stopped point-blank. He had no shots in 8:49 of ice time.

Montreal have once again tied Pittsburgh atop the Eastern standings with 102, and both teams have one game remaining. To be crowned as Eastern Conference Champions, the Habs will have to finish with one more point than Pittsburgh since the Penguins have one more win than Montreal.

The Habs will host Toronto Saturday, while the Penguins will visit the extremely desperate Philadelphia Flyers, who (idle tonight) have now slipped out of the playoff picture by dropping to 9th place thanks to a Washington win vs. Tampa Bay, vaulting the Caps to 92 points, one ahead of them.

IN OTHER NHL NEWS TONIGHT:

-The Red Wings defeated Columbus with a late comeback capped by Henrik Zetterberg, sealing their claim on the President's Trophy.

-Alex Ovechkin had goals 64 and 65 in the win, significant because he broke the LW single-season record of 63 goals set by Luc Robitaille in 1992-93. Ovechkin also tied Washington's franchise record of single-season PP goals with 22 set by Peter Bondra in 2000-01

-Ottawa's 8-2 win came at a price tonight, as Mike Fisher left with an undisclosed injury and Daniel Alfredsson was ABSOLUTELY LAID OUT by a blindside check from Mark Bell. Alfie skated his next shift before leaving the game for good with what the team is calling a knee injury.

-Nashville's 3-2 win vs. St. Louis has put Vancouver on the ropes. Should the Canucks lose tonight in ANY way (regulation OR overtime), their playoff hopes will close. BASICALLY: Canucks MUST WIN.

UPDATE: Ryder, Grabovski OUT; D'Agostini IN

Recently recalled forward Matt D'Agostini will suit up tonight and will make his NHL debut replacing forward Michael Ryder, who now joins a long list of sidelined players with a leg injury.

Mikhail Grabovski will sit out due to the flu.

Alex Kovalev also suffered from the flu yesterday, but is cleared to play tonight.

Bouillon is also out with a lingering foot injury, and will join Komisarek and Koivu, as well as Grabovski, Ryder, and other Hamilton recall Greg Stewart.

Division Champs Host Desperate Sabres

The newly crowned Northeast Division Champion Montreal Canadiens play host to the need-a-miracle-to-make-the-playoffs Buffalo Sabres Thursday night.

Fresh off a 32-save performance that helped the Habs clinch the Division, Carey Price was named NHL Rookie of the Month for the month of March today, edging out other candidates Sam Gagner, Nicklas Backstrom, Patrick Kane and fellow 'tender Erik Ersberg of L.A.

Price will get the start tomorrow night and will go head to head with Ryan Miller. Miller has surrendered 17 goals in six games against Montreal this season, but 10 have come in the last two matchups - both losses.

Since becoming the Canadiens #1 goalie at the trading deadline with the sending of Cristobal Huet to Washington, Carey Price has dominated between the pipes. He has registered 10 wins in his 13 starts, losing only to top-tier teams San Jose, Anaheim and Ottawa. His goals-against-average in that span is 2.29; two of his 10 wins have come versus and in Buffalo.

The Habs (45-25-10) now trail Pittsburgh by 2 points, as the Penguins were able to topple the Flyers 4-2 tonight. Pittsburgh have 102 points through 81 games.

The Sabres (38-30-12) won the Presidents' Trophy last season by setting franchise records with 53 wins and 113 points, but sit in 10th place in the East this season with two games remaining for them.

Should the Sabres not take tomorrow's contest into overtime, their season will officially be over.

The Sabres reached the conference finals each of the last two seasons, losing to eventual Stanley Cup winner Carolina in 2006 and Ottawa last year. Now, Buffalo is trying to avoid joining the New York Rangers (1992-93) and Montreal (1969-70) as the only teams since 1967-68 to miss the postseason after leading the league in points the previous season.

A win for Buffalo tomorrow night would put them at 90 points, one point off 8th place Philadelphia.

Washington currently holds down the 9th spot, but plays host to Tampa Bay tomorrow. An overtime loss would be good enough for Washington to grab the 8 spot, as they would equal Philly in points while having one more win.

Who will be more desperate tomorrow night...a team gunning down 1st in the East, or a team playing for their postseason lives? If Tuesday's game was any hint, don't necessarily favor the Sabres.

Notes: The Canadiens recalled forwards Matt D'Agostini and Greg Stewart from the AHL affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs today. No word yet on whether or not they will both play, but they will practice with the team Thursday morning.

Puck drop: 7:38

Here Are YOUR Northeast CHAMPIONS!

Carey Price collected his 3rd shutout; this one very meaningful as it clinched a Northeast crown for the Canadiens.

The Canadiens were able to come out of Ottawa with 3-0 win led by a 32-save effort from rookie netminder Carey Price.

The Habs may now celebrate the feat of earning the Northeast Division crown, a feat they hadn't accomplished since the 1991-92 season - that's a 16 year span folks...for the MOST STORIED franchise in NHL history.

In fact, the last time the Habs won the Division title, the Division was called the Adams Division, and the Habs needed just 93 points in 80 games.

It's about time, boys!

Montreal came into the contest having won 5 of their last 7, while Ottawa had LOST 5 of their last 7.

And the streaks continue...

Alex Kovalev opened the scoring on the PP midway through the first, backhanding home a Michael Ryder centering pass from along the goal-line past Martin Gerber and top shelf for his 35th of the season.

5:28 into the second, Mathieu Dandenault picked up a Guillaume Latendresse rebound and created a lane for himself to either dish the puck or go for the shot. Luckily, Dandenault chose the latter, and released a perfect wrister to beat Gerber high and top corner once again.

Midway through the third, the Habs would send this game out of reach on an Andrei Kostitsyn marker on the PP, his 26th of the campaign, as his wrist shot beat Gerber under the arm and over the pad.

Ottawa's loss now puts them in serious danger of actually missing the post-season, something that hasn't occured in 12 years. The Sens sit with 92 points through 80 games, good enough for 6th out East, but only one point ahead of both 7th Boston and 8th Philadelphia, both of whom have only played 79 of 82 games. 9th place Washington won tonight hosting Carolina, which moves them up to 90 points in 80 games, 2 away from the catching the Senators.

The Habs win vaults them to 100 points with 2 games remaining, and guarantees them a finish in the Conference no less than 2nd. The Pittsburgh Penguins also have 100 points through 80 games, but remain first as they have 45 wins, one more than Montreal's 44.

The Canadiens have not reached 100 points since doing so in 1992-93, when they finished 3rd in their Division with 103 before going on to shock many people and win the Stanley Cup, their 24th overall and 23rd as an official member of the National Hockey League. It is the 16th time in their history that they've broken the 100 point barrier.

Alex Kovalev became the first 35-goal scorer for Montreal since 1995-96, when both Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse tallied 38.

Montreal have played all their road games this season, and have two home games remaining: Thursday vs. Buffalo, and Saturday vs. Toronto. Montreal finishes with a 25-12-4 road record.