The Habs lack opportunism to get revenge against the Sabres

Michaël Petit
The Habs lack opportunism to get revenge against the Sabres
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

On Thursday evening, the Montreal Canadiens took on the Buffalo Sabres.

Martin St-Louis' team was out for revenge after losing 6-3 in Buffalo on January 15.

For this match-up, held at the Bell Centre this time, the Habs fielded the same line-up as their last game (against the Wild), except for one change in front of the net. Samuel Montembeault was in net against Buffalo.

So, despite a very dubious game from Jayden Struble against the Wild, he kept his place in the line-up and Arber Xhekaj skipped his turn once again.

Here's the Habs lineup:

It only took one shot for the Sabres to open the scoring in this game. Jack Quinn passed to Jason Zucker, who threaded the needle.

Minutes later, Zucker hit Kaiden Guhle in the head (you can see his helmet hitting the Habs defender's chin). Zucker subsequently turned down no less than three invitations to throw down the gloves, including one from Kirby Dach.

Soon after, the Habs had a powerplay, but the Sabres were the team to take advantage of it. Beck Malenstyn (who ranked 6th in the NHL in checking before the game) found his way to the net and beat Montembeault.

The sequence showed that, although Dobson was following Malenstyn, he could certainly have been more aggressive in preventing Malenstyn from getting to the net.

It was the 7th shorthanded goal this season for the Sabres, who join the Flames and Kings in first place in the NHL.

After 20 minutes of play, the score was 2-0 to the Sabres.

The Sabres needed just over two minutes to triple their lead, thanks to a Zach Benson goal.

Fortunately for the Habs, Cole Caufield answered (once again) moments later with his 26th goal of the season thanks to a precise shot.

Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson picked up an assist on Caufield's fifth goal in his last four games.

Shortly after the game's halfway point, we saw Zachary Bolduc on the first line with Caufield and Suzuki, and it paid off for the Habs.

Bolduc's powerful shot allowed the captain to cut the deficit to a single goal.

In the second period, the Habs dominated, surprisingly enough. Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was excellent, however, stopping 13 of the Habs' 15 shots in the 2nd period.

After 40 minutes of play, the Habs were trailing, despite dominating 25-11 in shots.

The third period was much quieter for both clubs. They hit the target six times (twice for the Sabres and four times for the Habs) midway through the third, and that included a powerplay for each side.

With a few minutes left in regulation, Bolduc tried to hit Mattias Samuelsson, but missed and hit Benson in the face with his elbow. Fortunately for the Habs, there was no penalty on the sequence.

The sequence may have been revised because Kelly Sutherland had initially announced a five-minute penalty for a blow to the head, but it was eventually ruled an accidental hit.

With just over a minute to play, the Habs pulled Montembeault and, once settled, Hutson took a shot on goal. Unfortunately, his stick broke and it led to a goal in an empty net for the Sabres.

Final score: 4-2 Sabres.

The Habs' next game is Saturday night in Boston against the Bruins.


Overtime

– With another two points, Suzuki earned his 15th game with at least two points this season, joining Lane Hutson as the team's top scorer.

– Zachary Bolduc had a very good game, which will certainly do him good. We saw him disturb his opponents and get some good chances.

He had no choice but to take his game up a notch, because the fact that he didn't have to go through waivers worked against him with all the potential returns (Texier, Laine, and Newhook). He was used on a few occasions on the first line rather than Dach, and he took his chances (including on Suzuki's goal in the second).

– Once again, we saw another difficult match for the referees in a Habs game. I guess the fact that Martin St-Louis threw an arrow at the referees after the famous game against the Oilers in October has worked against him ever since.

– Jayden Struble didn't help himself much by staying in the lineup. He wasn't noticed throughout the game and St-Louis (really) didn't use him much, especially in the third period (9:06 total).

– The Habs' face-off circle has improved dramatically since the addition of Phillip Danault. Not only is he winning his duels more often, but all the club's other center players are winning more often.

The club dominated in this regard during the game, with a 64.3% efficiency rate. No Habs player was below 50%, and three players were at least 70% efficient: Jake Evans (83%), Phillip Danault (71%), and Joe Veleno (75%).

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