The Buffalo Sabres rebounded from a devastating loss to beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 Friday and stay alive in their NHL Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Adam Mair, Jason Pominville, and Mike Grier scored in the first 30 minutes for Buffalo, easing the jitters after Boston had won three successive tight games. The Bruins still lead 3-2 and can clinch the series in Game 6 in Boston Monday. The Sabres broke through early in this one, with Mair scoring on Buffalo's first shot, and Boston didn't recover. Johnny Boychuk scored the lone Boston goal late in the third, but Tyler Ennis added an empty-netter for the Sabres. Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller made 34 saves and was helped at every turn by his teammates, who blocked 19 shots in the first two periods. Canadiens 2, Capitals 1: In Washington, Montreal also took a must-win game, edging Washington to cut the series deficit to 3-2. Thanks to terrific goaltending by Jaroslav Halak and a pair of early goals, eighth-seeded Montreal ensured Alex Ovechkin and Washington still have work to do in the first round of the playoffs. Halak made 37 saves in his return to the net, and Michael Cammalleri and Travis Moen scored on two of Montreal's first five shots. Red Wings 4, Coyotes 1: In Glendale, Arizona, Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard turned in another outstanding performance to lift his team over Phoenix and to a 3-2 series lead. Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal and an assist. They scored 1:10 apart midway through the third period to break a 1-1 tie and deliver a win that gave Detroit its first lead in the series. Howard, coming off a shutout, finished with 30 saves, including two huge stops on Martin Hanzal's breakaway with the score tied 1-1. Canucks 7, Kings 2: In Vancouver, Mikael Samuelsson scored twice and added an assist as Vancouver routed Los Angeles and grabbed a 3-2 series lead. Daniel Sedin and Samuelsson scored 5 minutes apart in the second period to chase Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. Samuelsson added his playoff-leading seventh goal on a power play in the third to send backup Erik Ersberg back to the bench. Steve Bernier had two goals, Alexander Edler and Pavol Demitra also scored, and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for Vancouver. After rallying in the third period to win Game 4 in Los Angeles and avoid a 3-1 series deficit, the Canucks can advance to the second round with a road victory Sunday. Crosby awarded assist Sidney Crosby is on such a hot streak, he's picking up points even on days the Pittsburgh Penguins don't play. Crosby was retroactively awarded an assist Friday by the NHL on Kris Letang's goal during the first period of Pittsburgh's 4-3, three-overtime playoff loss to Ottawa on Thursday night. Bill Guerin lost the assist that was awarded to Crosby. The scoring change gives Crosby 14 points in five playoff games, the most he has scored in his 10 career playoff series. He had 13 points in a second-round series against Washington last spring. The Penguins led the Senators 3-2 going into Game 6 of their Eastern Conference first-round series in Ottawa on Saturday night.
