Alex Newhook sends the CH to the conference finals

Michaël Petit
Alex Newhook sends the CH to the conference finals
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

It was finally time for Game 7 between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres.

After surviving a Game 7 in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Habs will have to pull off the feat once again.

Prior to tonight's game, the Buffalo Sabres had won only one Game 7 in their history… out of seven attempts. For the Habs, since 2004, the record was much more positive, with a 7-1 record in such situations.

For the occasion, Martin St-Louis decided to shake things up by removing Joe Veleno from the lineup, while Oliver Kapanen made a return to the lineup.

Kapanen anchored a line alongside Kirby Dach and Zachary Bolduc.

Here is the Habs' lineup:

The Canadiens quickly set the tone in this do-or-die game. All three lines made their presence felt in the offensive zone with some great scoring chances.

Ultimately, it was Phillip Danault's line that opened the scoring in the first five minutes with his first goal of the playoffs. The #24 deflected a shot that beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Kaiden Guhle and Alexandre Texier each earned an assist on the goal.

It was also worth noting that Josh Anderson did an excellent job of recovering the puck and feeding it to Texier.

According to what Félix Séguin said during the game, teams that score the first goal in a Game 7 have a 75% win rate.

After that goal, the momentum shifted slightly, as the Sabres frequently controlled the puck in the Canadiens' zone. Jakub Dobes was outstanding, keeping his team in the game with several big, crucial saves.

For the Sabres, Luukkonen was also outstanding in the first period. He denied Cole Caufield back-to-back on two excellent scoring chances.

Following those two consecutive saves, the Sabres tried to clear the zone, but the puck was sent straight into the stands, giving the Habs a power play.

The first wave had some great scoring chances, but it was ultimately another Quebec native who doubled his team's lead.

Bolduc fired a rocket on the fly thanks to a clever pass from the captain, who had remained on the ice for the remainder of the power play.

The Quebecers on the Habs were definitely playing excellent hockey. Alexandre Carrier also made a play in the first period with a magnificent slide, preventing a great scoring opportunity.

After 20 minutes of play, the score was 2-0 in favor of the Habs.

While the first period belonged to the Habs, the second belonged to the Sabres.

Buffalo spent more time in the opposing zone than Montreal did. There were several great scoring chances for Buffalo.

The Habs also had another breakaway by Josh Anderson, but he couldn't convert. After his shot, Anderson slammed into the goalpost and appeared to be in pain.

While the Sabres dominated this period, Jakub Dobes was phenomenal, once again.

However, he isn't unbeatable, and Lindy Ruff's squad cut the lead to one goal thanks to a goal by Jordan Greenway.

Greenway deflected a shot from Mattias Samuelsson that beat the Czech goaltender.

After 40 minutes of play, the score was 2-1 in favor of Montreal.

Thanks to a power play early in the third period, the Sabres set the tone for the final stretch of regulation time, but Dobes was solid in front of his net.

Shortly thereafter, Dobes made a last-second save on a puck that had slipped behind him all the way to the goal line. During the play, he was hit in the head by Jason Zucker, who was charging toward the net.

He may have taken a slight dive, but it was clearly contact to the goalie's head, which should have been penalized.

And what was bound to happen happened… The Sabres tied the game shortly after that hit on Dobes. Once again, captain Rasmus Dahlin scored.

It took nearly 10 minutes into the third period before the Habs got a shot on net…

The Habs tried to bounce back with some strong play in the offensive zone, but Luukkonen was outstanding. Without a doubt, both goalies were the stars of this game.

It had been quite a while since this had happened for the Habs, but overtime was needed to determine the winner of this ultimate game.

That overtime period was fiercely contested. There weren't just very good scoring chances on both sides, but some incredible scoring opportunities as well as some great defensive plays. The Habs hit the post, Jakub Dobes was sensational, and there were some great defensive plays on both sides and blocked shots that didn't seem possible.

I don't know who you predicted would score the overtime goal, but who else but Alex Newhook, who was simply incredible in this series. It was his 7th goal of the playoffs, and Alexandre Carrier earned an assist on the goal.

What a shot.

The Canadiens will now face the Carolina Hurricanes, who will be well-rested (perhaps too much so?) and haven't lost a single game in the playoffs so far.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals series will take place this Thursday (May 21) in Carolina.


Overtime

– Once again, Jakub Dobes was incredible in this game. He made some huge saves to keep his team in the game. Even though his stats aren't the most impressive, he's certainly one of the goalies who saves the most goals for his team.

– As Nicolas Cloutier mentioned in this tweet, there was a lot of improvement from the Habs, unlike the last game, which was… disastrous. The first line was much more involved at five-on-five, and Danault's line was excellent in the game, especially in the first period.

– By recording an assist on Bolduc's goal, Lane Hutson became the first Habs defenseman since Chris Chelios to record 12 assists in a single playoff run. He also became the fifth player in Habs history to record an assist in six consecutive playoff games (all positions combined).

– Once again, Arber Xhekaj saw almost no ice time in this game. He wasn't even on the ice for two minutes. I wonder what the point is of not playing Xhekaj. Might as well play Jayden Struble, right? The game is much less intense and physical than against the Lightning, and Struble was also playing good hockey before Noah Dobson's return.

Oliver Kapanen also didn't see much action in this game (4:45). That makes sense in a way, because Martin St-Louis wanted to give his best players more ice time. Hutson played over 31 minutes, as did Mike Matheson. Suzuki played close to 30 minutes in this game as well.

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