Gionta's tap in lifts Canadiens to 2-1 OT win

Brian Gionta took advantage of a timely carom 2:42 into overtime, when he tapped in an errant shot to secure the Montreal Canadiens' 2-1 win over the Sabres and spoil Buffalo's season opener on Saturday night.

Travis Moen also scored for the Canadiens who have opened the season with consecutive overtime victories, following a 4-3 win at Toronto on Thursday. Carey Price stopped 34 shots in helping Montreal get off to a 2-0 start for only the second time in 10 years.

Tim Connolly scored the lone goal for the Sabres, who failed to take advantage of a dominant offensive performance. Buffalo outshot Montreal 11-1 in the third period and 35-17 overall.

The decisive goal came shortly after the Sabres had applied pressure in the Montreal end, and after Chris Butler floated a shot just wide of an open net with Price out of position.

Gionta led the Canadiens on a rush the other way. Crossing the blue line, he dropped a pass back to Scott Gomez, who got off a hard shot that deflected off a Sabres defender in front.

The puck sailed wide of the net and caromed off the end boards, where Gionta tapped it inside the left post behind a shocked goaltender Ryan Miller. Gionta, one of Montreal's numerous offseason free-agent additions, has now scored in each of his first two games.

Price deserves most of the credit for keeping the Canadiens in the game.

After allowing Connolly to score on Buffalo's second shot on net, Price stopped the next 33 he faced. His best save came with under 40 seconds left in regulation when he somehow managed to get a piece of Jason Pominville's one-timer from the right circle.

Connolly opened the scoring 2:20 in with a power-play goal after Craig Rivet's shot from the blue line was blocked by Jaroslav Spacek. The puck caromed directly to Connolly in the slot, who snapped it past Price.

Moen tied it with a short-handed goal 13 minutes into the second period, when he drove in on net from the right wing. From his knees, after being checked by Buffalo's Andrej Sekera, Moen managed to tap the puck toward the net and through Miller's legs before crashing into the goaltender.

The puck crossed the line before Moen and Miller knocked the net off its moorings.

NOTES: The already banged-up Canadiens lost two players to injuries in the second period. Center Glen Metropolit sustained an upper body injury and did not return after a collision with Buffalo forward Patrick Kaleta. Defenseman Ryan O'Byrne did not return after being hit in the foot with a shot. ... Canadiens Jacques Martin became the 10th to coach his 1,100 NHL game, and trails Billy Reay by two games. ... Of the 23 players on the Sabres roster, 15 were drafted by the team, including four first-round picks: LW Daniel Paille (2002), LW Thomas Vanek (2003), RW Drew Stafford (2004) and D Tyler Myers (2008), who made his NHL debut.