Max Pacioretty gets 100th, Daniel Briere scores as Canadiens top Sabres 2-0

MONTREAL - Max Pacioretty scored his 100th career goal midway through the third period and Carey Price made 24 saves for the shutout as the Montreal Canadiens skated to a 2-0 NHL victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Daniel Briere added a power-play goal for the Canadiens (41-26-7), who posted a third win in a row and the sixth in seven games — a stretch that included a 2-0 win in Buffalo on March 16.

The Sabres (20-44-8) have one win in their last 10 games. They played their fourth game of a five-game road trip that ends Thursday in Nashville.

Montreal's top line was on a rush after a Buffalo power play when former Sabre Thomas Vanek slipped a diagonal pass that Pacioretty put in off goaltender Matt Hackett at 10:53 of the third frame.

Briere picked the puck out of a crowd and beat Hackett with a wrist shot from close range on a power play at 16:54.

Coming off an emotional shootout win in Boston on Monday night, the Canadiens were short on energy against the last-place Sabres.

Through two scoreless periods, the loudest cheers from the 21,273 Bell Centre fans were for a sharp Price save on Matt D'Agostini during a Sabres power play and when Olympic moguls gold medallist Alex Bilodeau was shown on the scoreboard screen.

The Canadiens had a four-minute power play in the second frame when D'Agostini was called for holding and got an extra two for banging his stick on the glass in protest, but failed to cash in.

Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers left the game at 6:15 of the third when he looked to hurt an arm or his ribs crashing into a goalpost. There was no immediate word on his condition.

Myers was in his first game since sitting out five with an arm injury.

Notes — With Dale Weise and Travis Moen both injured Monday in Boston, Lars Eller and Ryan White returned to the Montreal lineup. Jarred Tinordi replaced veteran Francis Bouillon. . .Ville Leino, who is without a goal in 51 games this season, was back for the Sabres after sitting out two games in place of injured Zenon Konopka.