The Sabres have gone 17-3-1 in the last 21 games and are just two points behind the Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic
The Buffalo Sabres moved one step closer to a top three spot in the Atlantic Division with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Thursday. The Sabres followed the same script as they did in Nashville earlier in the week, jumping out to an early lead and holding on for dear life in the latter part of the game.
Jason Zucker, Beck Malenstyn, and Zach Benson staked Buffalo to a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but the Habs responded before the end of the middle frame with tallies by Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, and outshot the Sabres 15-3. Buffalo maintained their lead through the third, and Samuel Montembeault pulled for the extra attacker. Peyton Krebs iced the game away with an empty-netter.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves in the win.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff spoke after the game:
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What can you say about your team holding on to leads in these games?
We came out, played a really good first period. You've got to give Montreal a lot of credit. They had a big push in the second. We made a couple errant plays that they took advantage of. (Luukkonen) made some great saves. But then I thought we played a rock-solid third period where maybe gave up one chance in a one-goal game, which I got to give our guys a lot of credit for just locking back into our game.
Does it help your team to play in a heated environment like Montreal?
I think you can see in the East that every team is winning every night. We know how much the game meant to us, and Montreal knows how much the game means to them. And every game, you can win a game. With the run we've had, and you're sitting two points inside a playoff race. It's good training for high-intensity games. For the most part, our guys have been able to pass the test, we've been able to weather some storms, and we've been able to push through and win games.
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