Pacioretty's hat trick spells victory for Canadiens
MONTREAL -- Max Pacioretty recorded his second hat trick of the season -- and sixth of his career -- to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
David Desharnais and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal (30-14-7). Dmitry Kulikov and Brian Gionta connected for Buffalo.
Carey Price stopped 36 shots. Robin Lehner made 30 saves for the Sabres (20-20-9).
Pacioretty completed the hat trick at 3:24 of the third when he picked up a loose puck in a scramble of bodies in front of Lehner for his 24th of the season.
Kulikov got the Sabres on the board at 16:01 when his point shot off a Sabres face-off win beat Price.
Gionta made it 5-2 when he was left alone in front on the power play at 17:48, giving him 14 points (11 goals, three assists) in his last 14 road games against his former team.
Both sides had their chances in the first period but it was the Canadiens who got on the board first.
Alexander Radulov drove up the right side to create a partial 2-on-1 with Pacioretty before feeding the Habs captain, who roofed it from the left circle at 17:27 of the opening frame.
The Canadiens came out strong in the second and it paid off at 7:48. Phillip Danault put the pressure on Marcus Foligno behind the Sabres net and forced a turnover that he dished off to Radulov in the corner. The puck was off his stick quickly to Pacioretty in the slot, who fired home a one-timer for his team-leading fourth multigoal game of the season.
Another defensive miscue helped Montreal extend its lead to 3-0. Cody Franson sent a clearing attempt along the boards that landed right on Sven Andrighetto's stick, and Andrighetto sent it through Zemgus Girgensons' legs to Desharnais, who skated to the slot before sniping his fourth of the season at 11:12.
A tic-tac-toe play put the Canadiens ahead by four at 18:38. Another Sabres clearing attempt never made it out of the zone, leading to quick passing plays from Tomas Plekanec to a streaking Andrei Markov to Byron in the slot.
NOTES: D Nikita Nesterov, acquired last week from the Tampa Bay Lightning, made his Canadiens debut. Montreal C David Desharnais (24 games), D Greg Pateryn (24 games) and D Andrei Markov (19 games) all returned after long stints on injured reserve. ... Montreal D Jeff Petry missed the game with the flu. ... Sabres D Jake McCabe missed his fourth game with a shoulder injury while LW Nicolas Deslauriers was a healthy scratch. ... Montreal scratched LW Jacob De La Rose and D Mark Barberio. ... The game was the third of four meetings this season and second in 10 days in Montreal between the two clubs.