WASHINGTON — Thanks to terrific goaltending by Jaroslav Halak and a pair of early goals, the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens ensured Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals still have work to do in the first round of the playoffs.

Halak made 37 saves in his return to the net, Michael Cammalleri and Travis Moen scored on two of Montreal's first five shots, and the Canadiens beat the top-seeded Capitals, 2-1, last night in Game 5 to extend their Eastern Conference first-round series.

"I liked (our) hunger. I liked (our) desperation," Cammalleri said. "It felt like we were going to make sure we were going home to play another one."

The Capitals could have closed it out at home, but they will take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 at Montreal on Monday.

"We let it slip away. We have Game 5 in our building, and we play (terribly) the first 10 minutes, and the game's over," said Montreal coach Bruce Boudreau.

MONTREAL 2 0 0—2

WASHINGTON 0 1 0—1

First Period—1, Montreal, Cammalleri 3 (Markov, Plekanec), 1:30. 2, Montreal, Moen 1 (Gionta, Gomez), 7:01. Second Period—3, Washington, Ovechkin 5 (Knuble, Carlson), 3:52. Third Period—None. Shots on Goal—Montreal 9-10-9—28. Washington 15-11-12—38. Power-play opportunities—Montreal 0 of 6; Washington 0 of 5. Goalies—Montreal, Halak. Washington, Varlamov. A—18,377 (18,277). T—2:31.

SABRES 4, BRUINS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Adam Mair, Jason Pominville, and Mike Grier scored in the first 30 minutes as Buffalo rebounded from a devastating loss to beat Boston and force a sixth game in the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Buffalo, which blew a 2-0 third-quarter lead and lost in double overtime on Wednesday, trails 3-2 with Game 6 Monday in Boston.

BOSTON 0 0 1—1

BUFFALO 2 1 1—4

First Period—1, Buffalo, Mair 1 (Gerbe, McCormick), 1:54. 2, Buffalo, Pominville 2 (Roy, Ennis), 18:54. Second Period—3, Buffalo, Grier 2 (Gaustad), 9:22. Third Period—4, Boston, Boychuk 1 (Wideman, Satan), 17:30 (pp). 5, Buffalo, Ennis 1 (Pominville), 18:17 (en). Shots on Goal—Boston 5-9-21—35. Buffalo 12-14-7—33. Power-play opportunities—Boston 1 of 5; Buffalo 0 of 2. Goalies—Boston, Rask. Buffalo, Miller. A—18,690 (18,690). T—2:26.

CANUCKS 7, KINGS 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Mikael Samuelsson scored twice and added an assist, powering Vancouver past Los Angeles to grab a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Daniel Sedin and Samuelsson scored 5 minutes apart in the second period to chase goalie Jonathan Quick.

LOS ANGELES 1 0 1—2

VANCOUVER 2 2 3—7

First Period—1, Vancouver, S.Bernier 2 (Wellwood, Demitra), 8:50. 2, Los Angeles, Handzus 3, 14:24 (pp). 3, Vancouver, Edler 1 (Hansen, Kesler), 17:32. Second Period—4, Vancouver, D.Sedin 3 (Samuelsson, H.Sedin), 8:26. 5, Vancouver, Samuelsson 6 (H.Sedin, D.Sedin), 13:31. Third Period—6, Vancouver, Demitra 2 (Bieksa), 4:38. 7, Los Angeles, Modin 3 (Greene, Williams), 5:02. 8, Vancouver, Samuelsson 7 (Salo), 6:31 (pp). 9, Vancouver, S.Bernier 3 (Alberts, Demitra), 9:50. Shots on Goal—Los Angeles 8-5-13—26. Vancouver 12-9-9—30. Power-play opportunities—Los Angeles 1 of 5; Vancouver 1 of 6. Goalies—Los Angeles, Quick, Ersberg, Quick. Vancouver, Luongo. A—18,810 (18,630). T—2:35.

RED WINGS 4, COYOTES 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jimmy Howard turned in another outstanding performance, and Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal and an assist as Detroit beat Phoenix to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round Western Conference series.

Holmstrom and Datsyuk scored 1:09 apart midway through the third period to break a 1-all tie to help give Detroit its first series lead. Howard, coming off a shutout, finished with 30 saves.

DETROIT 1 0 3—4

PHOENIX 0 1 0—1

First Period—1, Detroit, Miller 1 (Kronwall, Stuart), 17:04. Second Period—2, Phoenix, Jovanovski 1 (Aucoin, Lombardi), 9:45. Third Period—3, Detroit, Holmstrom 2 (Lidstrom, Datsyuk), 11:09. 4, Detroit, Datsyuk 3 (Franzen, Holmstrom), 12:18. 5, Detroit, Zetterberg 6 (Filppula), 19:04 (en). Shots on Goal—Detroit 12-4-13—29. Phoenix 7-14-10—31. Power-play opportunities—Detroit 0 of 6; Phoenix 0 of 5. Goalies—Detroit, Howard. Phoenix, Bryzgalov. A—17,458 (17,125). T—2:19.

STANLEY CUP GLANCE

All Times Hawai'i

FIRST ROUND

(Best-of-7)

(x-if necessary)

Yesterday

Montreal 2, Washington 1

Washington leads series 3-2

Buffalo 4, Buffalo 1

Boston leads series 3-2

Vancouver 7, Los Angeles 2

Vancouver lead series 3-2

Detroit 4, Phoenix 1

Detroit lead series 3-2

TODAY

Nashville at Chicago, 9 a.m.

Series tied 2-2

Pittsburgh at Ottawa, 1 p.m.

Pittsburgh leads series 3-2

San Jose at Colorado, TBD

San Jose leads series 3-2

TOMORROW

Phoenix at Detroit, 8 a.m.

Vancouver at Los Angeles, TBD