Habs Eliminate Sabres From Playoff Race

[April 04, 2008]  MONTREAL (AP) -- Bryan Smolinski scored twice, Carey Price came within 8:30 of posting his second straight shutout, and the Montreal Canadiens beat Buffalo 3-1 on Thursday night, eliminating the Sabres from the playoff race.

Chris Higgins also scored for Montreal, which is tied with Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference with 102 points.

Both teams have one game left but the Canadiens need to finish at least a point ahead of the Penguins to win the conference because Pittsburgh has 47 wins, one more than Montreal.

The Canadiens host Toronto on Saturday night. The Penguins complete their season Sunday in Philadelphia.

Ales Kotalik scored his 23rd goal during a 4-on-3 advantage 11:30 into the third with Buffalo already trailing 3-0.

The Sabres, who won the Presidents' Trophy last year and went to the conference final each of the last two seasons, needed at least one point to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Buffalo, which has 88 points, completes its schedule Saturday in Boston and is assured of finishing 10th overall in the East.

Ryan Miller stopped 22 shots for the Sabres.

Named the NHL's rookie-of-the-month for March, Price made 27 saves and improved his record to 23-12-3 in 40 games. The 20-year-old goalie stopped 32 shots Tuesday as the Canadiens clinched their first division title in 16 years with a 3-0 win in Ottawa.

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 for his 25th goal.

The sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273 was still celebrating the Canadiens' opening goal when Smolinski made it a two-goal lead with his seventh of the season at 12:08.

The 36-year-old veteran scored his second of the game -- his eighth overall in 63 games -- 14:28 into the second to increase Montreal's lead to three.

Notes: The Sabres last missed the postseason in 2003-04, their third straight year out of the playoffs. ... The Canadiens last won a conference title in 1988-89. They finished atop the Wales Conference with a 53-18-9 record and went on to lose a six-game final to the Presidents' Trophy-winning Calgary Flames, the last time the league's Nos. 1 and 2 teams met for the Stanley Cup. ... Canadiens RW Matt D'Agostini made his NHL debut. D'Agostini, chosen 190th overall by Montreal in 2005, was recalled from Hamilton of the AHL on Wednesday along with LW Gregory Stewart, who did not dress.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.