The Montreal Canadiens had a must-win game against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, but they couldn't deliver. Buffalo was the better of the two sides and deservedly got the two points.
The Montreal Canadiens were facing a tall task on Thursday night, taking on a Buffalo Sabres team that had won 14 of its last 16 games and that was hungry to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Despite Samuel Montembeault having played a fantastic game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, Martin St-Louis elected to give the net to Jacob Fowler. The fact that it was a divisional clash against a red-hot team says a lot about how the Canadiens feel about the young netminder.
While the Habs had a night off on Wednesday night, the Sabres were busy hosting the Philadelphia Flyers, and if the Canadiens were hoping the hosts would be tired to start the game, they had another thing coming. Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, who were both riding five-game point streaks, were in top form and giving headaches to the Habs’ blueliners. All through the game, Buffalo was the most energetic side.
Finally, A Goal At Five On Three
Earlier this week, we mentioned that the Canadiens had spent the most time league-wide on a double man-advantage for over 10 minutes, yet they had only two goals to show for it. While it was obvious that St-Louis wanted to use Noah Dobson’s slap shot to create goal-scoring opportunities at five-on-three, it just wasn’t happening.
On Thursday night, St-Louis decided to go another way. He kept his first power-play unit intact for the double-man-advantage, with Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson joining Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky. It took 44 seconds for the blueliner to feed a perfect pass to the Russian rookie, who buried a lethal one-timer.
Speaking to RDS’ Marc Denis after the first frame, Hutson explained that it was the way the Canadiens were able to make the Sabres’ triangle move so much that allowed them to get a goal at five-on-three finally. It’s hard to argue with him. With the passing talent this team has, it should be betting on that weapon to create space and opportunities.
The Second Fastest Defenseman To 100 Assists
With an assist on the double-man-advantage goal, Hutson became the second-fastest defenseman to reach 100 career assists. He only needed 132 games to reach the milestone, which Sergei Zubov did in 127 games. Who did Hutson beat to the mark? Mark Howe (he needed 135 games), Stefan Persson (he needed 135 games), and Cale Makar (who needed 140 games).
Unfortunately for Hutson, though, he had a bit of an off night, fanning on the puck twice in key moments offensively and being guilty of three giveaways.
Fantastic Performance
The best team won the game on Thursday night. The Sabres were quicker both on and off the puck. Even though the Canadiens led twice, that advantage lasted for less than seven minutes, and it felt like the result was never in doubt for the host.
Lindy Ruff’s men beat the Canadiens at their own game; great forecheck and sustained pressure had the Habs panicking more than once. Buffalo’s top line, featuring Tage Thompson, Zach Benson, and Alex Tuch, was a constant threat. Thompson recorded five points with three goals and two assists and just seemed to be everywhere on the ice.
Amazingly, even though four of the Sabres’ six defensemen spent over 20 minutes on the ice in a second game in as many nights, they never looked tired. Bowen Byram, Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, and Owen Power were all over the Canadiens.
In net, Colten Ellis didn’t look very solid, but the Canadiens were unable to take advantage of his mistakes. At one stage in the third, he turned the puck over and was some way away from his net, but Oliver Kapanen was unable to put the puck in the net, just like Suzuki. Perhaps there was a bit of killer instinct lacking there, but those are the kind of opportunities that you cannot miss.
As for Fowler, his .846 save percentage is not what we are used to, but the loss cannot be placed on his shoulders, even if he would probably want back the goal he allowed. It was announced on Thursday that Fowler was voted to the AHL All-Star Game, and with the Olympic break looming, sending him back to Laval might not be a bad idea. As good as he’s been in the 10 games, he has played with the Habs, he would be best served by seeing more action. Montembeault has found his game again. Jakub Dobes isn't losing, even though his stats aren’t brilliant; perhaps the timing is right to send Fowler back to Laval to play a truckload of matches.
The Canadiens will now head back to Canada as they’ll take on the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at 7:00 PM.
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