• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Canadiens down struggling Sabres

Nov 28, 2013 - 7:29 AM Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - David Desharnais tallied a goal and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the struggling Buffalo Sabres, 3-1, at First Niagara Center.

Andrei Markov contributed three helpers and P.K. Subban notched his 100th career assist on Desharnais' second period goal. Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher added goals as the Canadiens won their fourth straight game.

"In the last two weeks he's playing well," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of Desharnais. "He's competing to the puck, he's working hard on both sides of the ice. It's not a coincidence that he's got success. He's working really hard."

Carey Price turned away 24-of-25 shots in the win.

Matt Moulson scored Buffalo's lone goal. Ryan Miller allowed three goals on 31 shots for the Sabres, who have lost five consecutive games.

The Sabres held a closed door meeting after the game.

"When things are difficult, it's easy to point fingers, but this group is really starting to pay attention," Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said. "We're making strides in the right direction. We want to get better and it showed tonight. The guys had their own little chit-chat in the room and it shows me that they're starting to really care."

Montreal opened the scoring with a little less than three minutes remaining in the first. Lars Eller rushed into the offensive zone and towards the net and dropped a pass back to Markov, who jumped up on the play. The defenseman wristed a shot off Buffalo defenseman Mark Pysyk and into an open net.

Subban blasted a shot from the point after Montreal kept the puck in the zone for the majority of a power play in the second. Desharnais deflected Subban's shot, while screening Miller in front of the net, at the 13:44 mark.

Buffalo got one back later in the period. Drew Stafford dumped Subban in the corner and quickly passed the puck to Moulson in the middle, who slapped it past Price to cut the deficit in half with 2:30 left in the frame.

Montreal cemented the outcome with 1:44 left in the third. After Tyler Ennis went off for interference, Gallagher took a pass from Desharnais and one-timed a shot over the glove of Miller to extend Montreal's lead.

Game Notes

Buffalo claimed forward Matt D'Agostini off waivers from Pittsburgh and placed forward Corey Tropp on waivers prior to the game ... Montreal went 2-for-4 on the power play.