Mr. Saturday Night: It was about time he gave the CH two points

Mathis Therrien
Mr. Saturday Night: It was about time he gave the CH two points
Credit: Capture d'écran Twitter

For the second time this week, the Montreal Canadiens got the better of the Buffalo Sabres, earning four points out of a possible four.

However, once again last night, the Habs let a lead slip away and allowed the Sabres to pick up a point in each of the two games this week.

On both occasions, the Sabres came back from behind, even though they didn't necessarily deserve to force either game into overtime.

In fact, the Habs were dominant and the better team on both Tuesday and last night in their 4-3 overtime victory, while the visitors were simply opportunistic enough to get back into the game and force overtime.

We're obviously happy to see the Canadiens win, but the fact remains that watching Martin St-Louis's team continually squander leads is frustrating—and, more importantly, it costs the Habs regular-season wins.

This statistic serves as the tiebreaker when teams have the same number of points, and it's what put the Habs at a disadvantage last season in the race for home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In short, this is obviously something St-Louis needs to address—he must get his team to hold onto their leads and close out games to secure regular-season wins, a category in which the Habs rank 30th in the NHL, with only the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings faring worse at 0.

(Credit: Twitter screenshot)

At least the Canadiens can count themselves lucky to have “Mr. Saturday Night” in their ranks—who is also “Mr. Overtime”—as Cole Caufield played the hero last night.

It was really about time that the Habs' #13 delivered a win like this to his team, as things haven't been easy since the start of the season.

Caufield scored two goals last night, bringing his total to four out of five scored on Saturday nights this season.

The Habs' #13 is truly dominant in Saturday games, and he proved it once again last night with a performance worthy of his talent.

Now, what else stands out to me from this game?

1. David Reinbacher was clearly nervous

The Habs' rookie defenseman played nervously throughout the game, but he still showed some promising flashes, and he deserves a chance to play in several games so we can see how he adapts to the NHL.

Once his nerves settle down, I believe he'll become a very good defenseman for the Habs.

2. Juraj Slafkovsky had a solid game

For the first time this season, Slaf played like the Slaf we know—a big, physical forward with great vision, a good stick, and good hands.

He had two assists last night, and let's hope he can build on that strong performance.

3. Zachary Bolduc is really on fire

The Quebec native scored another goal last night, bringing his total to four this season and six points in eight games. He immediately seized his opportunity to play on the first power play by scoring a beautiful deflected goal.

His line with Alexandre Texier and Phillip Danault was excellent once again, and it's highly unlikely we'll see that trio broken up.

The Canadiens have the day off today and will play their next game against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre,


In Brief

– Finally.

– Interesting.

– Stay tuned.

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