MONTREAL — No shutout is easy. There's always going to be a tense moment or two for a goaltender on the verge of a blanking.

Ryan Miller's anxious times Sunday didn't come until the final 43 seconds. The Montreal

Canadiens, with their own goalie pulled, tested the Buffalo Sabres' netminder with three

quality shots as time ticked away in Bell Centre.

As usual, he was there when needed.

Miller cemented his fifth shutout of the season with the late saves, and his teammates did

the rest earlier to give Buffalo a 1-0 victory. It was the fourth straight win for the Sabres,

matching their season high.

The zero for the Canadiens statistically gets credited to Miller, who has 16 shutouts in

his career. But his latest doughnut came by feeding off the team.

The Sabres rarely let the Canadiens near their netminder. Of Montreal's 30 shots, only a

handful were dangerous. Tomas Plekanec was alone in front early, while Michael Cammalleri and

Brian Gionta were buzzing the zone late.

That was pretty much it. The team defense did the rest, allowing Tim Connolly's goal to

stand alone.

"They had a few broken plays that created a few chances for them, but other than that we

were good," Miller said. "Usually, when they have the puck in the zone they're trying to

create some sustained pressure, tire you out, spread it out and get some pucks to the net. We

did a pretty good job on that. We didn't give anything up on the rush. For the most part, we

did a pretty good job."

Added coach Lindy Ruff: "I thought we made it really tough on them to get the high-quality

opportunities."

The Sabres, who had started slowly in the previous five games, matched the Canadiens for

much of the first period. Two penalties called on Buffalo's Tim Kennedy allowed Montreal to

take a 10-6 shot edge, but that was manageable compared to the 62-20 total during the slump.

The middle period was far from even. Buffalo had more zone time, more shots, opened the

scoring and quieted the crowd of 21,273.

Connolly's hot streak continued when he scored with 6:56 gone.

Jason Pominville carried the puck down the left side on the rush, then fed Connolly in

front. Carey Price stopped the center's first attempt, but Connolly's second whack connected

for his 11th goal of the season.

The center has points in six straight games, scoring five times and adding four assists.

"It was a good win," Connolly said. "It feels really good to come on the road and win, to

play three solid periods and really go out there and deserve the victory."

The Sabres felt lucky to escape with their previous two wins. They dug 3-0 holes against

Pittsburgh and Atlanta before storming back. They enjoyed the conventional victory more.

"We won some battles we didn't win the last few games," Ruff said. "We did a nice job. We

started locking into a nice style. We hung on to pucks. We got pucks in the places we needed

to get it. Our structure was a lot better."

And on those rare occasions the Canadiens did find space, Miller closed it.

"He made four or five really big saves in the last five minutes for us," Sabres defenseman

Tyler Myers said. "It's nice when you have a guy like that backing you up."