clarinews@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
MONTREAL (UPI)-- Stephane Richer scored his 32nd goal and Patrick Roy turned aside 30 shots to earn his second shutout Saturday night, helping Montreal blank Buffalo 1-0 and stopping the Sabres' three-game winning streak. The victory boosted the third-place Canadiens to within four points of the second-place Sabres, and five points behind the first-place Boston Bruins, in the Adams Division. Richer scored the only goal of the contest at 15:48 of the second period, putting Montreal in front 1-0. Shayne Corson dumped the puck off the boards and it bounced over the stick of Sabres defenceman Doug Bodger before Richer picked it up and broke in alone on Buffalo goalie Clint Malarchuk. Richer's backhand shot fooled the Buffalo goalie for the score. Roy foiled the Sabres' leading scorer Pierre Turgeon on a breakaway while his team was playing a man short in the third period. Roy grabbed the puck between his pads as he sprawled to the ice to beat the speedy Turgeon. He also stopped Bodger, who took a drive from the blue line while Roy was screened during a second-period power-play advantage for the Sabres. He managed to stop the drive with his pad. The Sabres failed to take advantage of a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty in the first period to Montreal defenseman Petr Svoboda. The Canadiens rearguard was ejected by referee Terry Gregson for high-sticking Buffalo forward Benoit Hogue.