MONTREAL, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Michael Ryder's goal with 2:53 to play Saturday night boosted the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Ryder deflected a pass from Alexander Perezhogin to snap a 3-3 tie and give Montreal a 27-17-5 mark at the All-Star break. The Canadiens are fourth in the NHL Eastern Conference.
Buffalo, even with the loss, leads the NHL East with a 33-12-4 record.
Montreal scored twice on power plays -- with Guillaume Latendresse and Saku Koivu getting credit for the goals -- and went up, 3-0, at 4:49 of the second period when Francis Bouillon blasted a shot past Sabres goaltender Martin Biron.
Buffalo got back within one goal before the second intermission. Daniel Briere tapped in a pass from Jason Pominville for the first and Derek Roy had a shot from Maxim Afinogenov go off his skate and into the goal for the second.
The Sabres tied the score at 3-3 when Briere redirected a shot by Brian Campbell into the net.
