Byron's OT goal lifts Canadiens past Sabres

BUFFALO -- The Montreal Canadiens found out Wednesday that throwing the puck on net, even indirectly, can pay dividends.
Paul Byron scored with 1:45 left in overtime to give the Canadiens a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center.

Byron broke in 2-on-1 with Torrey Mitchell against Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian. Byron's pass to Mitchell went off Bogosian's stick and past goalie Robin Lehner.
"Just started on a controlled breakout and a great pass by [Nathan Beaulieu] to get it right on my tape in full speed, and 2-on-1 I saw Torrey [Mitchell's] stick and I was just trying to get it over to him and deflected right off the [defenseman's] stick," Byron said.

It was the second Canadiens goal that went in off a Sabres player, after defenseman Andrei Markov made it 2-1 with 2.7 seconds left in the second period on the power play. Markov received a pass from Tomas Plekanec and took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that deflected off the stick of Sabres captain Brian Gionta past Lehner.
"For the longest time our team had trouble scoring, getting prime chances, and that's kind of the luck of the game and bounces here and there," Byron said. "Good things happen when you put pucks on net, and we had bodies going to the net and getting sticks on stuff."
The Canadiens (33-32-6) had lost two in a row, including 4-1 at home to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
"We played against a team that was fresh, they had a lot of energy, and we played last night and we were not pleased with our performance," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "Guys bounced back and showed a lot of their character and it was an emotional game from both teams and I'm glad for the guys that got rewarded. Big win."

The Sabres (28-33-10) have lost three of their past four. They and the Canadiens combined for 100 penalty minutes; Buffalo had 52.
"I wouldn't have looked at [composure] as a problem at too many other times, but today, absolutely," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "I don't think I've seen quite the type of calls that both teams received today in terms of 10-minute [misconducts]. But we certainly let the game get away from us with our composure level and it was a factor in the second period. It was a factor in the third period with us getting off to and being affected by the game and the referee."
The Canadiens were outshot 43-22, but goalie Ben Scrivens made 41 saves.
"He was great for us," Byron said. "It's amazing to have a goalie like that come in and shut the door and make those saves he made. For him, he's a great pro and he's ready to play and he gives us a chance to win."

Sabres forward Marcus Foligno made it 2-2 on a shorthanded goal with 8:04 left in the third period. Foligno received a pass from David Legwand and beat Scrivens through the five-hole for his 10th goal.
Greg Pateryn made it 1-1 47 seconds into the second period with his first NHL goal. Pateryn received a pass from Alex Galchenyuk and took a shot from the right faceoff circle that got past Lehner. Pateryn was playing his 47th NHL game, 27th this season.
"It's an awesome feeling that I can't really put into words," Pateryn said. "Everyone thinks maybe this shot or maybe this game one might go in. [Galchenyuk] made a great pass out to me and I was coming in off the bench right down the blue line, so I got a good shot and I let it rip."
Bogosian gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with 4:43 left in the first period. He took a shot from the right faceoff circle that was stopped by Scrivens, then batted the rebound out of the air. It was reviewed to see if Bogosian hit the puck with a high stick, but video was inconclusive and the original call that it was a goal stood.

"I felt pretty confident that [my stick] was at chest level," Bogosian said. "When the puck's up like that, you hope to hit it and fortunately I did."
Canadiens defenseman Mark Barberio did not return for the second period because of an upper-body injury; he played the final 1:02 of the first.
"First of all, you don't want to see your teammates go down," Markov said. "I didn't see the play, what happened, but at the same time you have more ice time, but we just played last night and that was the second game of back-to-back games, so it wasn't easy, but overall we did a pretty good job [making up for his loss]."