MONTREAL - Jochen Hecht scored in the 10th round of a shootout as the red-hot Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Rookie Jhonas Enroth, called up from AHL Portland, made 32 saves in regulation time, then outduelled Carey Price in the shootout as Buffalo (27-22-6) won for the fourth time in five games.
Max Pacioretty and Benoit Pouliot gave Montreal (31-20-7) a 2-0 lead before the Sabres came back. The Canadiens have only one win in their last five games.
Drew Stafford, with his 19th goal in 22 games, and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo.
After starting 31 straight games since Nov. 26, the Sabres gave goalie Ryan Miller a night off after he was blitzed in a 7-6 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. Enroth was called up to start, with Patrick Lalime as backup.
Enroth, who made 32 saves, was tested early and often as Montreal fired 18 first-period shots. But they settled only for Pacioretty's power-play goal at 4:54 when he jammed in his own rebound at the side of the net.
Price stopped 30 shots for Montreal.
Rookie David Desharnais used a burst of speed to get between Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera and slip a pass to Pouliot for his third goal in as many game 6:28 into the second.
The Sabres were on a power play when Thomas Vanek tried to jam the puck in and the rebound went to Stafford, who shot into an open side at 17:48.
Pominville tied it 6:08 into the third on a pass, converting Hecht's pass from behind the net.
The Canadiens were missing four injured defencemen and had Brendon Nash, called up from AHL Hamilton, making his NHL debut in place of Jaroslav Spacek, who has a lower body problem.
NOTES _ Mathieu Darche returned from a lower-body injury after two games, bumping Lars Eller. Hal Gill missed a third game with an upper-body injury and Michael Cammalleri sat out an 11th contest with a shoulder problem . . . Patrick Kaleta and Craig Rivet were scratched for Buffalo. . . Tim Connolly of the Sabres played his 600th NHL game.
