Canadiens Defensemen Deliver the Offense Against the Sabres | RECAP: BUF @ MTL

Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble scored for Montreal but it wasn't enough as the Canadiens dropped a decision to the Buffalo Sabres.

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
89 Joshua Roy - 15 Alex Newhook - 17 Josh Anderson
40 Joel Armia - 71 Jake Evans - 11 Brendan Gallagher
70 Tanner Pearson - 74 Brandon Gignac - 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle
47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris
72 Arber Xhekaj - 58 David Savard

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Cayden Primeau, Johnathan Kovacevic, Michael Pezzetta
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnqjqV9-8V4[/embed]

With the Canadiens having given up seven goals twice last week, Marty St. Louis had demanded a commitment to a better defensive effort from his players. They partially delivered against the Sabres but mistakes and losing the special teams battle led to another loss, their fifth in the last six games.

But there were positives to extract from this game. It was undoubtedly the best performance of the season for Arber Xhekaj. He  not only opened the scoring in the first period but made his presence known with several solid hits in a game that became progressively more physical. Jayden Struble scored his third goal of the season and the second of the year against the Sabres.

Alex Newhook took over the second line centre duties and had a strong game. Joshua Roy chipped in with two assists, the first multi-point game of his NHL career.

Defensively Nick Suzuki made an outstanding play to dislodge the puck from J.J. Peterka who was all alone heading towards the Canadiens goal. The stick of Mike Matheson stopped a sure goal by Jeff Skinner on a wraparound with Sam Montembeault caught out of position.

In all, the Canadiens took the message of their coach to heart and played a strong defensive game limiting Buffalo to just five high danger scoring chances all game (NST, 5v5).  

The Canadiens surrendered a power play goal to Buffalo and another goal while the Sabres were shorthanded. A missed exchange between Matheson and Cole Caufield resulted in the game winner by Alex Tuch. It's clear that Caufield is still suffering from whatever kept him out of practice. 

Juraj Slafkovsky not only ended his points streak, but he was undisciplined taking three minor penalties.

Canadiens (22-26-8)
Shots: 31
Face-off %: 65.3
Power play: 0/4
Penalty minutes: 10
Hits: 14
Blocks: 19

Sabres (25-27-4)
Shots: 23
Face-off %: 34.7
Power play: 1/3
Penalty minutes: 10
Hits: 19
Blocks: 15

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Xhekaj (3)
2nd period: Struble (3)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --

Sabres Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Girgensons (5), Skinner (18)-PPG, Tuch (16)-SHG
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Sam Montembeault (L) 12-10-4
BUF: Luukkonen (W) 15-14-2

Arber Xhekaj - Xhekaj scored his third goal of the season adding four hits and four shots on goal in almost 19 minutes of ice time. It should be noted that Xhekaj was paired with David Savard.

Alex Newhook - Newhook assisted on Jayden Struble's goal and was 63 percent at the faceoff dot. 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJIrKfky_do[/embed]

Martin St. Louis on Arber Xhekaj

"It was probably his most complete game he's played with all the assets that he has. He's a physical player, you saw that tonight. He actually has some good offensive instincts and you saw that, his touches were really good offensively."

Arber Xhekaj

"You'd like to get the win. You hate to lose it especially when you play well, but as a game, I think it was one of my better ones, for sure."

The Canadiens head to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. Six of the next seven games for Montreal will take place on the road.

Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.