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Sabres look to clinch Northeast Divison title

Mar 31, 2007 - 3:03 PM Buffalo (50-20-7) at Montreal (40-32-6) 7:00 pm EDT

MONTREAL (Ticker) -- The Buffalo Sabres look to clinch their first division title in a decade and the Eastern Conference crown when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Buffalo has 107 points and holds a seven-point bulge over Ottawa (46-24-8) in the Northeast Division and leads Pittsburgh (45-23-10), New Jersey (46-24-8) and the Senators by seven points in the Eastern Conference race.

It also holds a one-point lead over Detroit (47-19-12) for the overall lead in the NHL.

The Sabres moved closer to their first division title since the 1996-97 season with a 6-4 triumph of the New York Islanders (36-29-12) on Friday.

Chris Drury scored twice to snap a six-game goalless drought while Jason Pominville had three assists for Buffalo, which has 21 goals in its last five contests and has scored a league-high 292 goals.

Montreal is currently eighth in the Eastern Conference with 86 points, one point behind the New York Rangers for seventh but only a point in front of Toronto.

The Canadiens had their five-game winning streak snapped in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa (46-24-8) on Friday.

Defenseman Sheldon Souray and Mark Streit scored and rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for Montreal, which is 3-2-2 in seven contests against Buffalo this season.

Souray's tally was his 18th power-play goal of the season, which tied him with Hall of Famer Denis Potvin and Adrian Aucoin for most power-play goals in a season by a blue-liner.