Allen shuts the door as Habs edge Sabres in shootout to avoid playoff elimination

Michael Pezzetta scored the decisive shootout goal and the Montreal Canadiens avoided playoff elimination by rallying to a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

Montreal would have been eliminated from playoff contention for a second straight season — and two years removed from reaching the Stanley Cup Final — with any type of loss.

Lukas Rousek scored a goal and added an assist in his NHL debut for Buffalo, which dropped to 3-6-3 in its past 12 and blew a chance to move to within four points of the idle Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot.

Defenseman Riley Stillman and JJ Peterka also scored for Buffalo, while Eric Comrie stopped 38 shots through overtime, and allowed two goals on six shootout attempts.

Montreal blew two one-goal leads to fall behind 3-2 on Stillman's goal at the 8:31 mark of the second period.

Gallagher scored on the fly by using Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin as a screen to snap in a shot inside the far left post. With the goal, Gallagher tied Bobby Rousseau for 24th on the Canadiens career scoring list.