The Sabres appeared to have earned a power play in overtime on an apparent high-sticking call against Montreal forward Jonathan Drouin, only to find out that the officials had ruled that there was no penalty after huddling at center ice.
Housley said that the officials ruled that Drouin was following through on his shot at the time of the high stick.
"I disagree because you're in control of your own stick," Housley said. "To me it was a penalty but it wasn't called."
Beaulieu had his stick break at the Montreal blue line shortly after, allowing the Canadiens to take off on a rush. Ryan O'Reilly tried to regain possession in a battle along the boards but lost the puck to Phillip Danault, who fed Pacioretty with a clear lane to the net.
Knowing Pacioretty's tendency to shoot between the pads, Sabres goalie Chad Johnson looked to protect the five-hole. Instead, Pacioretty tucked a the puck between the post and Johnson's outstretched leg.
"Possession in overtime, it was literally everything," Beaulieu said of his broken stick. "It couldn't have happened at a worse time for my stick to snap. It's really unfortunate. Guys were really good tonight. We put up a gutsy effort and thought we deserved to win, but what can you say? It's just really unfortunate."
O'Reilly took responsibility for the play as well, saying he wished he had found an outlet to maintain possession.
"Just skilled players making good plays," O'Reilly said. "I should've at least threw it back to our goalie or did something to make sure they don't get possession. We have a broken stick, so that's my fault there."
Just as they had in their loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday, the Sabres took a 1-0 lead in the first period on the strength of a power-play goal. A shot that went wide during a scramble in front of the net found O'Reilly behind the goal, and he was able to quietly wrap around and lift the puck in.