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Kovalev helps Canadiens cap rally, edge Sabres

Dec 21, 2008 - 4:53 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Alexei Kovalev picked a fine time to heat up for the Montreal Canadiens.

Netting his third goal in as many games, the captain tallied with 25 seconds remaining in overtime as the Canadiens rallied for a 4-3 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in a battle of Northeast Division rivals.

Sergei Kostitsyn netted a pair of goals - including the game-tying tally with 4:56 remaining in the third period for Montreal, which improved to 2-3-0 in its last five games.

Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist, defenseman Andrei Markov notched two assists and Jaroslav Halak finished with 31 saves for the Canadiens.

"We were battling all night long and it paid off in the end," Halak said.

"Since the start of the year, (Kovalev's) the guy who has created the most scoring chances, but he seemed to be hitting a crossbar, or hitting a defenseman or something like that," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We knew that once he got a goal he'd start to feel a little more relaxed, and that's what happened."

Clarke MacArthur notched a goal and an assist, Derek Roy also tallied to extend his point streak to nine games and defenseman Andrej Sekera netted his first goal of the season for Buffalo, which is 5-2-1 in its last eight games.

One day after stopping all 40 shots for his third shutout of the season, Ryan Miller turned aside 42 shots in this one for the Sabres.

"It's fine. It's been good, I feel like I've been in a rhythm lately," Miller said. "Tonight, it's just frustrating that we don't walk out of here with a win."

"You've got to give them credit, they kept coming," Buffalo's Clarke MacArthur said. "I thought our goalie played really well for us and it's just too bad we got into penalty trouble. They've got a great power play and they showed it."

Veteran defenseman Teppo Numminen notched two assists in the victory.

With the game in overtime, Kovalev accepted a feed from Markov in the right faceoff circle and wristed a shot past Miller and under the crossbar for his eighth goal of the season.

"Sometimes it's going to be ugly, they're not all going to be easy games and those games are nice to win," Kovalev said. "You win games like that (ugly ones) and you know the team's confidence is going to go up."

"It hit me right in the shoulder and tipped over my jersey, one of those," Miller said. "One inch lower and it's going to pop up in the air. One inch higher and it hits the crossbar, but right there it just catches enough jersey to skip over the top of your shoulder."