SABRES 3 CANADIENS 0
BLANKED IN BUFFALO
Miller shuts door as CH offence takes night off,
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Cody Hodgson scored two goals and Ryan Miller made 34 saves for the shutout as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Canadiens 3-0 Wednesday at First Niagara Centre. Jason Pominville scored the other goal for the Sabres. What’s it all about? Buffalo is in the midst of another late-season drive for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The win gave the Sabres a 4-0-2 record in their last six games and they moved into a tie for eighth place with Washington, which has a game in hand. The Sabres play five of their last eight games on the road and the schedule includes visits to the New York Rangers, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston as well as what should be a gimme in Toronto. The Canadiens remain last in the East with 69 points. The only teams below them in the overall standings are Edmonton (66) and Columbus (53). Miller on his game: Jim Corsi, the Montrealer who serves as the Sabres’ goaltending coach, said Miller is in top form after some early season problems. The former Vézina Trophy winner is 16-3-5 since Jan. 24.
Hodgson wakes up: Hodgson has been quiet since he was acquired from Vancouver at the trading deadline, but he has shown signs of life in his last two games. He earned his first points as a Sabre on Monday when he collected two assists in a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay. And he opened the scoring against the Canadiens when he connected on a wraparound at 6:15 of the first period. Hodgson circled around the net and scored by banking the puck off goaltender Carey Price. He also scored a power-play goal in the third period to give him 18 goals on the season. s ubban the iron man: P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov were the only Canadiens who weren’t on the ice for a Buffalo goal, but they had very different workloads. Subban played 28 minutes and would have played more if he hadn’t been whistled off for two minor penalties. The Canadiens continue to play it cautiously with Markov, who was on the ice for 15:47, including only 12:17 at evenstrength. If at first: Repentigny native Pominville scored off a goalmouth scramble at 2:31 of the second period. Price stopped a slapshot by Andrej Sekera, but the puck was batted around in front before Ville Leino nudged it to Pominville. What’s next: The Canadiens meet the Ottawa Senators in a rare Friday night game at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN, RDS, TSN Radio-990) and then travel to Philadelphia to face the Flyers on Saturday night (7 p.m., CBC, RDS, TSN Radio-990).