Buffalo slips by Montreal

Rasmus Ristolainen and Tyler Ennis scored and the Sabres closed their home schedule with a 2-1 victory last night in Buffalo to snap the Montreal Canadiens’ five-game winning streak.

Robin Lehner stopped 31 shots in a game the Sabres hung on to win after building a 2-0 lead through two periods.

Tomas Plekanec scored for the Canadiens and Carey Price stopped 28 shots.

Buffalo has already been eliminated from playoff contention to extend the franchise’s longest postseason drought to six years. Firstplace Montreal had little left to play for.

The Sabres’ Kyle Okposo has spent the past three days in the hospital undergoing a battery of tests to determine an undisclosed illness that has sidelined him for more than a week.

Capitals 2, Rangers 0 — Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored, Braden Holtby made 24 saves and host Washington wrapped up its second consecutive Presidents’ Trophy with the shutout of New York.

As Metropolitan Division champions, the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the team with the most points in the NHL, the Capitals wrapped up home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. It’s their third Presidents’ Trophy in the past eight seasons.

Elsewhere in the NHL — The Russian Hockey Federation wants as many players as possible back in the Kontinental Hockey League next season in preparation for the Olympics without the NHL. Board chairman Arkady Rotenberg said in a statement that the federation will try to keep KHL players from leaving for North America and bring NHL free agents back this summer. . . .

The defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins will go into the playoffs without Kris Letang. The defenseman is scheduled to undergo neck surgery and miss 4-6 months.