Published: December 14, 2009 11:03 pm      

SABRES: Buffalo tops Habs, win streak reaches four

Clarke MacArthur scored a power-play goal 14:41 into the third period, and the Buffalo Sabres extended their winning streak to four with a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.

MacArthur tucked a rebound inside the right post, giving Buffalo its third lead of the game.

Patrick Kaleta, who scored twice in Saturday’s 3-2 road win over the New York Rangers, had his second short-handed goal in two games late in the second to put the Sabres up 2-1. Tim Kennedy’s third goal 12:33 into the third gave Buffalo a short-lived 3-2 lead.

Ryan Miller stopped 21 shots and Andrej Sekera also scored for the Sabres, who are on an 8-2 run.

Andrei Kostitsyn got his third point of the game 12:51 into the third when he set up Mike Cammalleri’s team-leading 18th goal to draw Montreal even at 3 just 18 seconds after Kennedy scored.

Canadiens backup Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves in his third start in seven games.

Montreal is on a 0-2-1 skid following a three-game winning streak.

Kaleta gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead with 59 seconds left in the second. Sekera drew Buffalo even at 12:58 with his second goal of the season 3 seconds after Montreal’s Josh Gorges stepped out of the penalty box.

Kaleta took Tim Connolly’s set-up pass on a 2-on-1 and moved to his backhand to put a shot past Halak for his third goal in two games.

Kostitsyn tied it at 2 early in the third with his second power-play goal of the game, his fourth goal in two games.

Kostitsyn got his seventh goal 16:03 into the first, 17 seconds into Montreal’s first power-play after Sabres captain Craig Rivet was penalized for roughing up Maxim Lapierre in the goalmouth.

Kostitsyn needed only 10 seconds to convert the Canadiens’ third opportunity with the man advantage after Buffalo was penalized for too many men 2:26 into the third.

NOTES: Kaleta scored his first two goals of the season in consecutive games from Oct. 13-16 and had three overall through his first 26 games. He know has six goals in 28 games. ... Sabres LW Adam Mair and Montreal’s Ryan O’Byrne dropped their gloves at center ice as the puck dropped to open the second. The pair were given fighting majors 3 seconds into the period.