After squaring up the series to gain home ice advantage, the Habs returned home on Sunday to try to capitalize on that advantage. They didn’t start well but it didn’t matter as they picked up the 6-2 win to take a 2-1 series lead.
Unsurprisingly, Martin St. Louis opted to keep his winning lineup intact from Friday. Meanwhile, Buffalo made one change, bringing in some size and faceoff prowess with Sam Carrick returning from injury, taking Tyson Kozak’s spot in the bottom six. Montreal’s group lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Evans – Demidov
Texier – Danault – Anderson
Bolduc – Veleno – Dach
Matheson – Carrier
Guhle – Hutson
Xhekaj – Dobson
10 Thoughts
1) One thing that has been an issue defensively for Montreal in these playoffs is fundamentals on clear-outs. They’ve given up multiple momentum-killing goals simply by failing to get the puck to centre ice. Late on the opening shift, Cole Caufield was guilty of just that as an attempt to do a light flip that he could chase after ultimately didn’t go very far. Instead, Rasmus Dahlin got the puck at the point and sent a shot through that hit a defender in front. That changed the angle, getting Jakub Dobes out of position. The puck went off the backboards right to an unguarded Tage Thompson in front and he had a wide-open tap-in to open up the scoring. It’s hard to call a first-minute goal a momentum-killer but it basically was.
2) To Montreal’s credit, they weren’t deterred and went right back to the attack with the Danault line, in particular, generating some pressure. Then, the top line got some good looks, though nothing that got through Alex Lyon. A power play just before the midway mark didn’t muster up much but they were at least passing with a purpose, not passing in the hopes that a defender might make a mistake to open up a seam. That’s at least a bit of progress.
3) The Habs kept up the pressure after the power play and this time, they were finally rewarded for their efforts. Jake Evans got the puck in the slot and got a dangerous shot off that Lyon stopped. He couldn’t corral the rebound, however, and it went right to Alex Newhook. His shot looked like it was going to go wide but instead, it hit Conor Timmins and changed direction to land in the back of the net to tie the game. Newhook had a much better chance earlier on the power play so he’ll take the lucky bounce. And really, it was good to see Montreal get rewarded for their efforts as they certainly were carrying the play in terms of zone time.
4) There hasn’t been a lot of rough stuff in this series but that picked up late in the frame. Zach Bolduc picked up an extra roughing minor when a post-whistle scrum saw him land on Lyon (with some help) but that gave Buffalo the power play. It didn’t last the full two minutes, however, as an end-of-period scrum saw Dahlin get called for roughing to even it up heading to the second. On the eventual power play, Caufield caught the crossbar and then missed a wide-open tap-in with the puck hitting his stick and skidding across the crease, kicking off the period of even more weird bounces.
5) It wasn’t all bad news for Caufield or the power play, however. On their next man advantage, Jordan Greenway lost his stick and the Habs went to work, forcing the play on his side of the ice. Eventually, they created a one-on-one with him and Lane Hutson. Greenway wound up diving out of the way, allowing Hutson to set up Caufield for an easy tap-in goal that he didn’t miss this time.
6) Back to the bounces. The Danault line looked to make it a two-goal lead with Lyon’s skate kicking a shot into the net. However, it was immediately waved off. It was either because it was ruled that Danault pushed him in or intent to blow the whistle. Considering it wasn’t reviewed or challenged, I’m inclined to think it was the latter, making it a good bounce undone by a bad bounce of sorts. There was a good bounce (well, two) later in the frame when a Hutson point shot on the power play hit a Buffalo defender, then Juraj Slafkovsky in front. The second one made the puck completely change direction, eluding Lyon to make it a three-goal lead at the time. There was another bad bounce later on when Ivan Demidov caught the post on a power play shot which would have made it a three-goal game again. Lots of bounces both ways in what was a chaotic second period. If you want to tack on one more bounce, Dobes’ head bounced off the crossbar after being hit by Beck Malenstyn, which led to the power play that yielded Slafkovsky’s goal.
7) Onto the stuff in between. Just past the midway mark of the period, Joe Veleno jumped on the ice for a change and got the puck right away. He drove in on the right side but instead of forcing a cross-ice pass through, he waited and found Bolduc driving the net. A quick pass led to a slot shot and it was 3-1. Meanwhile, Buffalo’s goal came on the power play after Kirby Dach took a holding-the-stick penalty. Dahlin got the puck at the point, looked for his lane, fired, and hit shot hit iron and went in. Look at that, yet another bounce. That made it a two-goal game going into the third.
8) With the game not out of reach, Buffalo came out pressuring hard in the third and had the Canadiens on their heels for several minutes. That eventually resulted in a Buffalo power play which, let’s just say, Montreal managed to survive but it wasn’t pretty.
9) But then a bounce went the way of the home side. On a two-on-one, Phillip Danault set up Alexandre Texier, whose shot caught iron. But the puck bounced and stayed in play. Lyon was sprawled out on the ice from the initial shot and tried to cover it but got up too early, allowing it to squeak through. Dach was right there and had an empty net to fire it into. Meanwhile, Montreal’s official empty-net goal wasn’t even a goal. Newhook had a partial break and was hooked, drawing a delayed penalty. The shot hit the post but because of the penalty, the goal counted anyway.
10) With a four-goal lead, things got a little chippy at the end as expected. Veleno tried to throw a big hit on Josh Doan (who got out of the way), leading to 42 minutes in penalties and four players leaving the game early. Then, in the dying seconds, Arber Xhekaj decided to start another fracas with an unneeded punch on Carrick. But, that’s about the only downside of a solid home win for the Habs, snapping their NHL-record nine-game alternation of wins and losses to start a postseason.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Lane Hutson – One of the nice things about the big lead was that the Habs didn’t have to overwork him in this one. But they were in that situation in large part due to Hutson. He made a great play to set up Caufield’s eventual winner while also setting up Slafkovsky’s tally with his shot. When he was on the ice, the play was primarily in Buffalo’s end which is the best way to defend. A very solid outing from the youngster.
Stats: 2 assists, +2 rating, 2 PIMS, 1 shot, 20:35 TOI
2nd Star: Jakub Dobes – It’s hard to give a goalie one of the stars in a four-goal victory. But the Sabres generated a lot of dangerous chances that Dobes turned aside most of, allowing the Habs to get going and take control of the game. This wound up being a pretty eventful game for him and he was quite sharp once again.
Stats: 26 saves on 28 shots, .929 SV%
3rd Star: Cole Caufield – It wasn’t all good. He made the mistake that led to the opening-minute goal and missed a tap-in on the power play. But in between all of that, this was the most dangerous Caufield has looked in a while which warrants a mention here. This isn’t the type of game that will quickly flip the switch and make him the elite threat we know he can be. But he found ways to be much more dangerous which should give him some extra confidence moving forward.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, -1 rating, 3 shots, 17:17 TOI