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Canadiens’ Dominic Moore is stopped by Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward in the first period. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Tied 1-1 entering the third period at home with a huge shots advantage and a playoff berth as motivation, fans of the Montreal Canadiens had to like their team’s chances.

But whether it was their frustration at the sterling play of Carolina goalie Cam Ward or something in the water in the Montreal dressing room, the home side showed small urgency in the final 20 minutes.

Well, at least until the final 60 seconds when goalie Carey Price was pulled for an extra attacker. That’s when the Canadiens pushed for the equalizer but were denied by Ward, who robbed Scott Gomez in the final seconds for a 2-1 Carolina win on Wednesday night.

Ward, making just his second start since returning from a back injury, did his best to hurt Montreal’s post-season push with a 34-save performance. The 37-32-8 Canadiens have 82 points, two more than ninth-place Atlanta in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.

Eric Staal’s 24th goal of the season on a rebound at 2:55 of the third stood as the winner and went the 33-35-9 Hurricanes to within seven points of Boston for the final playoff spot in the East.

More to come

Sabres defenceman Henrik Tallinder, left, celebrates his fourth goal of the season with teammate Jason Pominville on Wednesday night in Buffalo. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Jason Pominville scored his team-leading 24th goal and the Buffalo Sabres inched closer to clinching the Northeast Division title with a 6-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.

Raffi Torres had three assists in his first game back after missing six because of a hand injury, and Ryan Miller made 13 saves for his 39th victory — one small of matching a career high. The injury-depleted Sabres also got production from their role players as defenceman Henrik Tallinder, fourth-liner Adam Mair and rookies Tim Kennedy, Nathan Gerbe and Tyler Ennis also scored.

Buffalo (43-23-10) won for the seventh time in eight games to go seven points ahead of second-place Ottawa in the division with 11 days left in the regular season.

Michael Frolik and Jeff Taffe scored for Florida, which is all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

The Panthers extended their winless string to four (0-3-1), and looked like a team with small to play for. After Taffe opened the scoring less than two minutes in, Florida gave up four straight goals and was eventually outshot 41-15, including 20-2 in the second period.

Pominville tied it from behind the goal-line by banking a shot in off of Tomas Vokoun’s skate after the goalie stopped Tallinder’s snap shot. Kennedy then scored the go-ahead goal to cap a 3-on-2 rush with 1:51 left in the frame with a shot in the top left corner.

Gerbe scored a power-play goal, snapping a shot through a crowd in front to make it 3-1 at the 9:31 of the second period before the Panthers registered their first shot on goal of the frame.

After Frolik cut the lead to 4-2 early in the third period, Ennis and Tallinder responded to seal the victory by scoring 33 seconds apart to make it 6-2 with just under 12 minutes left.

The Sabres were playing without two top-line forwards. Centre Tim Connolly (foot) missed his third game while left-wing Thomas Vanek (lower body) missed his second game. With his goal, Pominville went one ahead of Vanek for the team lead.

Sabres defenceman and NHL rookie of the year candidate Tyler Myers earned his rookie-leading 35th help. That went him one ahead of Gilbert Perreault among Buffalo rookies and into a tie with Derek Plante for fifth on the team list.

Former Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt, left, assists with a home evaluation in this 2009 photo. (Natural Resources Canada)

The federal government is suspending a program which offered people financial incentives to have their homes evaluated for energy efficiency and then perform upgrades to improve the rating.

Under the ecoEnergy Retrofit program, homeowners could receive a grant of up to $5,000 to carry out energy saving improvements.

The program technically runs until March 31, 2011, but the government will not accept bookings for pre-retrofit evaluations after midnight Wednesday. Homeowners who have already booked an appointment, have completed an evaluation, or applied for re-entry into the program have until next year to apply for the retrofit grant.

On the program’s official website, the federal government said it was “committed to reviewing its energy efficiency and emissions reductions programs to ensure they continue to be an effective and efficient use of Canadian tax dollars.”

The Conservatives launched the ecoEnergy Retrofit program in April 2007. By 2009, the government had paid out $91 million to homeowners for more than 85,000 home retrofits.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty told the Globe and Mail newspaper the program had become too well loved and, therefore, too costly.

“Here is what has really happened — demand tripled since 2007,” the Globe quoted McGuinty as saying.

The federal budget unveiled on March 4 included an additional $80 million for the retrofit program.

Many provinces, such as Ontario, match the federal rebates. Those programs are expected to continue.