The Sabres win a bizarre game and tie the series

Félix Forget
The Sabres win a bizarre game and tie the series
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

Tonight, the Canadiens hosted the Sabres at the Bell Centre for Game 4 of the series. With a win, the Habs could have pushed their opponents to the brink of elimination.

Unsurprisingly, Martin St-Louis didn't make a single change to his lineup. Anything else would have been surprising after two straight wins.

Here's what it looked like:

The Sabres, meanwhile, had a slightly different look. Sam Carrick and Logan Stanley gave way to Konsta Helenius and Luke Schenn in the lineup.

Oh, and in net, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took Alex Lyon's place.

And early in the game, the Sabres were unstoppable. They had all the momentum in the world… and they quickly opened the scoring.

Mattias Samuelsson scored the first goal of the game.

A few minutes later, we witnessed a bizarre sequence. Jakub Dobes appeared to stop a shot by Jack Quinn… but the referees, after reviewing the play for several minutes, ultimately ruled the goal good.

Except that Martin St-Louis immediately challenged the call, claiming interference on the goalie. And he won the challenge: the referees ruled that Helenius had interfered with Dobes, and the goal was ultimately disallowed after 10 minutes of review.

The coach's decision clearly gave his team a boost. Shortly after the goal was disallowed, Alex Newhook found the back of the net.

It was the forward's sixth goal in five games.

And right at the end of the period, while the Habs were on the power play, Cole Caufield used his hands to give his team the lead.

The player, who had been struggling in the playoffs, scored his second goal in two games.

After 20 minutes, the score was 2-1 in favor of the Habs.

Midway through the second, the Sabres found themselves on the power play. And Tage Thompson, in an attempt to enter the Habs' zone, sent the puck deep into the Habs' zone from the neutral zone.

Except the puck took an erratic bounce… and ended up behind Jakub Dobes.

The Habs had power-play opportunities in the second half of the period but couldn't capitalize.

The score was therefore 2-2 after 40 minutes.

While the Habs were unable to score on the power play, the Sabres were more opportunistic.

Zach Benson found himself alone in the slot and put his team back in the lead.

And a few minutes later, Helenius had a golden opportunity… but Dobes was on fire to rob him of a sure goal.

What a save by the Habs goalie.

Late in the game, the first line tried to create some chances… and Juraj Slafkovský paid the price.

He took the butt end of Luukkonen's stick right in the face, and it hurt. Fortunately, he was able to finish the game.

The Habs tried to tie the game late in the game while Dobes was back on the bench, but they weren't able to get a real scoring chance.

The Sabres held on and came away with the win.

Final score: 3-2 Buffalo (the series is now tied 2-2)

The two teams will face off again Thursday night in Buffalo. The game starts at 7 p.m.


Overtime

– We were treated to a strange game tonight. The Sabres dominated the opening minutes, then the Habs regained momentum before the Sabres took it back. It's a game the Habs could have won, but they let it slip away.

– Alex Newhook had scored two goals in his first 38 career playoff games… and he's now scored six in his last five games. He's absolutely unstoppable right now.

– Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen didn't have a great first period, but he was very solid in the final 40 minutes of the game. He made the difference… and we can expect to see him again on Thursday night.

– The Habs' power play didn't have a great game. The Sabres were very undisciplined… but the Habs weren't able to capitalize on it. That's something that will need to improve by the end of the series.

– Arber Xhekaj spent only 3:45 on the ice and didn't play for the final 30 minutes of the game. Will Jayden Struble take his place in the next game?

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