Montreal Canadiens' backup netminder Peter Budaj kept Monday night's matchup close, but it just wasn't enough as the Buffalo Sabres edged the Habs' 3-2 in overtime.

PHOTO CREDIT - NHL.com

Whitby - March 13, 2012 - An old-fashioned wrist shot by Buffalo Sabres’ towering defenseman Tyler Myers at 2:01 of overtime ended the Montreal Canadiens’ comeback on Monday evening at the First Niagara Center. The Canadiens looked less-than-spectacular on this evening when compared to their previous on-ice performance in Vancouver on Saturday night.

The Sabres’ seemed to be superior to the Canadiens in a variety of different statistical categories. The most obvious of these categories were the one-on-one battles. Montreal had much difficulty in puck protection and in fending off Buffalo’s offensive attacks. The Canadiens were outshot 36-28 by Buffalo. Backup netminder Peter Budaj was stellar in nets for Montreal and made many key saves on the evening. Sabres’ all-star netminder Ryan Miller was also solid in nets, but could not defend against a Canadiens’ offensive onslaught in the dying seconds of regulation when centerman David Desharnais re-directed an Erik Cole pass at the 19:55 minute mark sending the game into overtime.

STATS & PHOTO CREDIT - NHL.com

The announced three stars of the contest were Sabres’ defenseman Tyler Myers (3rd star, overtime winner), David Desharnais (2nd star, one goal, one assist) and Sabres’ centerman, Tyler Ennis (1st star, two goals).

The Canadiens now return to Montreal to next face their divisional rivals, the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. Both teams will play a home-and-home series, with the two clubs returning to Kanata on Friday evening to close out the home-and-home affair.

Please pick up your jock Mr. Markov
There is no doubting the skill that veteran defenseman Andrei Markov possesses, but you have to admit, he was absolutely schooled by Sabres’ diminutive centerman, Tyler Ennis at 11:08 of the second period. If you have ever had the opportunity to play on defense, you can only feel for what Markov must have been feeling in the seconds that followed after Ennis made Markov look silly.

It is never a good feeling having an opposing forward coming towards you, you making the obvious move to stop that skater in his tracks, only to realize, you missed the mark completely and instead, that same skater has flown by you and potted the biscuit behind your goaltender.

Thank you to NHLVideo for posting this YouTube video of Ennis’ sweet move around Markov:

While I did comment that last night’s performance wasn’t on par with the team’s play on Saturday, I realize the team has been on the road for the past week on their Western road trip and exhaustion has to be considered a determining factor for the team’s sluggish start against Buffalo when the Canadiens were outshot 14-6 in the opening frame.

There was an electric sense of excitement in the final minute of regulation as the Canadiens frantically scrambled for the tying goal-for which they were rewarded.

Until next time, play every game as if it is your last one…