Montreal Canadiens rallied back and avoided playoff elimination with less than three weeks left in their season with a 4-3 win over the Sabres on Monday night.
Brendan Gallagher forced overtime by scoring his 200th career goal, while Michael Pezzetta scored the decisive shootout goal in the game.
Pezzetta scored by driving in from the right circle to beat Eric Comrie inside the far post. Buffalo’s Jack Quinn scored in the fourth shootout round, but was matched by Montreal’s Jesse Ylonen, whose shot from in tight managed to trickle in through Comrie.
Jordan Harris and Alex Belzile also scored for Montreal, and Jake Allen stopped 30 shots. Montreal were in real danger and would have been eliminated from playoff contention for a second straight season with any type of loss, but kept their hopes alive.