Cole Caufield and Zachary Bolduc score their first goals of the season in a Habs victory

Vincent Larue
Cole Caufield and Zachary Bolduc score their first goals of the season in a Habs victory
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

The Montreal Canadiens were back at the Bell Centre for Game 3 of their series against the Buffalo Sabres.

Martin St. Louis's team managed to return home with at least one win under their belt.

With that big win in Game 2, the Habs' head coach decided to stick with the same lineup for the first home game of the series.

Here is the Habs' lineup:

For the Sabres, Sam Carrick was back in the lineup.

Here is the Sabres' lineup:

The Sabres dominated the start of the first period.

With less than a minute on the clock, Tage Thompson put the puck into an empty net to open the scoring.

Jakub Dobes completely lost sight of the puck on that play.

A real wake-up call for the crowd.

The first goal shook up the Habs.

Martin St-Louis's squad got their offensive machine rolling.

Alex Newhook, him again, took advantage of Alex Lyon being pushed out of front of the net to score.

Four goals in four games for Newhook.

In the second period, the Habs continued to dominate the Sabres.

On the power play, Lane Hutson outmaneuvered the entire opposing defense.

He found Caufield in front of the net, who finally scored his first goal since April 26.

Caufield is back.

Five minutes later, the Canadiens doubled their lead.

Three Quebec players combined to score the home team's third goal.

Joe Veleno spotted Zachary Bolduc charging toward the net at full speed. Bolduc fired a powerful shot that beat Lyon.

Just like Caufield, Bolduc had also been in a bit of a slump that came to an end.

During a Sabres offensive rush, Beck Malenstyn made hard contact with Dobes.

A scuffle broke out shortly after, led by Bolduc, and the Habs were awarded a power play.

The Canadiens' goalie remained in the game.

Juraj Slafkovsky avenged his goalie in the best way possible. By scoring.

Slaf positioned himself in front of the opposing net and redirected a wrist shot from Hutson that came from the blue line.

The Bell Centre erupted.

While on the power play, the Sabres showed a brief sign of life late in the period.

Captain Rasmus Dahlin fired a shot from the left circle past Dobes, leaving the goalie with no chance.

Dobes couldn't track the puck, and it showed in his reaction.

After two periods, the Habs led 4–2.

In the third period, the Sabres put immense pressure on the Habs, but the Habs' defense and Dobes held firm.

After clearing the zone, the Canadiens counterattacked, and Alexandre Texier saw his shot stopped once by Lyon, but the puck ended up behind the goalie.

Kirby Dach was there and sent the puck into an empty net.

With more than five minutes left, the Sabres pulled their goalie.

Unfortunately for them, Alex Newhook broke away, and even though he wasn't able to put the puck in the net, the goal was still awarded.

Rasmus Dahlin hooked him. Goal allowed.

Final score: 6-2 in favor of the Canadiens.

The Canadiens and the Sabres will face off on Tuesday at the Bell Centre for Game 4. The game will again start at 7 p.m. By winning this game, the Canadiens have earned themselves one more home game, either in this series or against Carolina


overtime

– Interesting.

– Joe Veleno is likely to stay in the lineup.

– Local pride.

– Maybe?

– It's been a while.

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