Sabres, Canadiens Tie It Up In OT

April 19, 1998 / 12:07 AM EDT / CBS/AP

When Dominik Hasek lets in soft goals, the Buffalo Sabres suffer.

Hasek was beaten on a bad-angled shot by Martin Rucinsky and let in a long floater from Brian Savage as the Montreal Canadiens earned a 3-3 tie with Buffalo, compromising the Sabres chances for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

"It was an important game for us, so we can't be pleased," Hasek said. "Home ice is not a big advantage, but it is a very small one."

The Sabres need to win their season finale Sunday at home against the Ottawa Senators and have the Washington Capitals lose to the Carolina Hurricanes to claim fourth place and home ice for the first round of the playoffs.

Buffalo, which moved into a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with Boston, also needs the Bruins to lose or tie Sunday against Philadelphia.

A shaky Hasek saw Savage pick the top corner on a power play to tie the game 2:19 into the third period with his second goal of the game and career-high 26th of the season.

Jocelyn Thibault was no better in the Montreal net against Buffalo. Derek Plante, Alexei Zhitnik and Vaclav Varada scored for the Sabres (36-28-17).

"I don't know if there was a lot I liked out there," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "Our goaltending wasn't where we liked and we only got five shots in the first period of a game we were desperate to win.

"It's tough to explain. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming out hard but we were flat."

The tie in their final game of the season left Montreal (37-32-13) in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens will meet the Penguins in the first round of playoffs beginning Thursday in Pittsburgh.

"At least now we know we're playing Pittsburgh and we can start getting ready for the playoffs," said forward Mark Recchi. "It's a strange year.

"We're 12 points better than last year, but we only finished one place higher."

The Canadiens were missing Saku Koivu, Shayne Corson, Patrice Brisebois, Stephane Quintal, Scott Thornton and Turner Stevenson.

Plante swept a shot from the right side by Thibault 6:04 into the game, but Rucinsky beat Hasek on a bad-angled shot from along the left boards only 25 seconds later.

Savage's shot from the blue line on a rush went off a stick, hit Hasek's blocker and dropped into the net at 17:05.

"It was a slow shot and I just missed it," Hasek said. "A goal like that happens once a season. I just hope it doesn't happen in the playoffs."

Thibault topped that when he ducked as Zhitnik's shot from the blue line went off Dave Manson's stick and in under the crossbar. A wild shot that bounced over the net off the backboards was batted in by Varada at 18:48.

Montreal outshot Buffao 24-20.