Tom Pyatt scored his second career NHL goal on Saturday night and the Montreal Canadiens moved two points closer to clinching a playoff berth with a 3-0 blanking of the Buffalo Sabres.
Pyatt’s wrist shot beat Ryan Miller at 2:41 of the second. He has five points in 37 games as a rookie this season, his first in the Montreal organization. Ryan O’Byrne and Sergei Kostitsyn also scored in support of goalie Jaroslav Halak, who earned his fifth shutout of the campaign.
Montreal now has 86 points, four points ahead of the New York Rangers and five more than Atlanta.
At New York, Marc Staal netted his seventh of the season as the New York Rangers pulled into an eighth-place tie with idle Philadelphia, beating Florida 4-1. Staal’s goal was the equalizer, the start of a four-goal final stanza that saw markers from Brandon Prust, Chris Drury and an empty-netter from Marion Gaborik, his 41st of the year.
At Raleigh, N.C. Martin Brodeur made 26 stops and picked up his 109th career shutout and 599th career victory as the New Jersey Devils downed Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0. Zach Parise and Patrik Elias each had a goal and an assist for the Devils.
At Pittsburgh, Jordan Leopold scored the OT winner and Sidney Crosby had three assists as the Penguins kept pace with the Devils in the Atlantic Division race. The two teams are tied with identical 45-26-7 records, with four games to go in the regular season, which ends next weekend.
At Toronto, Miroslav Satan scored twice, including the decisive OT tally, as the Boston Bruins strengthened their hold on a playoff berth, downing Toronto 2-1. Colton Orr scored the lone goal for the Leafs, who have gone 9-4-2 in their last 15 games.
Elsewhere it was the New York Islanders over Ottawa 4-1, Nashville clinched a playoff spot, knocking off Detroit 4-3 in overtime and Washington downed Columbus 3-2.