Shame on the Montreal Canadiens.
Yes, they have been one of the NHL’s hottest teams for the last five weeks. And, true, the Buffalo Sabres have been on fire themselves, especially on home ice.
But on Wednesday night, while Canadiens players were chowing down on chicken wings — or whatever else young hockey players eat in Buffalo the night before a game — the Sabres were playing, and defeating, the Philadelphia Flyers.
On Thursday night, Montreal should have taken advantage of a weary team playing its second game in 24 hours. But for the second consecutive game, it was the Canadiens who were victimized in the third period, allowing two unanswered goals — one into an empty net — in this 5-3 loss at KeyBank Center.
The roles were reversed 48 hours earlier. It was Washington that took advantage of the Canadiens playing for the second consecutive night; a Montreal team that squandered a two-goal lead in the third period, eventually losing in overtime.
If the Canadiens are to take the next step in their ascension, these are the games they can’t afford to lose. Instead, in the midst of a three-game road trip, Montreal only has one of a possible four points to show for its efforts.
Are we wrong?
One-man wrecking crew: All Tage Thompson did on this night was contribute to every Buffalo goal, scoring three himself — the last into an empty net — while adding two assists. He now has 200 career goals. It was his ninth career hat trick. He had three shots, and scored on each one.
News you need (Part I): Canadiens goaltender Jacob Fowler, who lost his second consecutive game — and third in his last four — has been named to the AHL all-star game, Feb. 11 in Rockford, Ill., although his last game for the Laval Rocket was on Dec. 6. There’s no doubt Fowler was excellent for Laval, going 10-5-0 with three shutouts, a 2.09 average and .919 save percentage. But, we repeat, he hasn’t played an AHL game in more than five weeks. Although the NHL will be on a break at that time for the Winter Olympics, and provided Fowler remains with the Canadiens, we can’t imagine he’ll be permitted to participate.
News you need (Part II): Buffalo, which hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 seasons, is now on a 15-2-0 run that included a 10-game winning streak.
News you need (Part III): This was the 302nd meeting between Buffalo and Montreal. That’s the second-highest amount of games the Sabres have played against a franchise, trailing only head-to-head meetings against Boston (322).
News you need (Part IV): Buffalo has struggled against the Canadiens, winning for only the third time in 11 games. The Sabres had been 0-4-1 while being outscored 25-13.
Great moments in scheduling: This was the first of three meetings in 17 days between these teams. And we’re not being sarcastic, for once. Two young, exciting and fast-skating teams that are starting to hate each other. We look forward to the next two confrontations.
No help required: Cole Caufield opened the scoring barely three minutes into the game, converting his own rebound.
Momentum … schmomentum: The lead lasted all of 54 seconds.
Next time, stay out of the box (Part I): Buffalo scored twice on the power play in the first period. The Sabres also scored twice with the man-advantage against Philadelphia. Two nights earlier, the Canadiens successfully killed five Washington power plays.
Next time, stay out of the box (Part II): The Canadiens had three manpower advantages — and scored twice.
It’s about time (Part I): Ivan Demidov’s opening-period goal was his first in 10 games, dating back to Dec. 28.
News you need (Part V):The assist Lane Hutson drew on the Demidov goal was the 100th of his career in his 132nd game. Only Sergei Zubov (127 games) got there quicker.
It’s about time (Part II): Nick Suzuki hadn’t scored since Jan. 1. That drought ended early in the second period.
Never take your eye off the puck: Oliver Kapanen was minding his own business on the Canadiens’ bench in the second period when Zachary Bolduc’s deflection struck him and bloodied his nose.
Shoot the puck (Part I): Suzuki had a two-on-one break with Caufield in the period — and elected to pass.
Shoot the puck (Part II): In the third period, and with goalie Colten Ellis badly out of his crease, Kapanen elected not to immediately shoot. Instead, he thought it would be a better idea to deke and go to his backhand. In retrospect, it wasn’t such a great idea.
How not to play defence: Hutson was out of position on Thompson’s winning goal, creating a two-on-one break against his defence partner, Alexandre Carrier.
Quick stats: Caufield had five shots. Alexandre Texier, Demidov and Kapanen each had three. Noah Dobson and Carrier each blocked four shots. Arber Xhekaj had six hits despite playing only 10:29. Bolduc had five hits, while Samuel Blais had four hits in only 7:29. Fowler’s save percentage was .846. The Canadiens won 58.9 per cent of their faceoffs and outhit Buffalo 26-21.
They said it: “I think it was a great game,” head coach Martin St. Louis said in Buffalo. “To watch the talent on the ice, the kind of hockey that was being played. We expect that from them. That’s a good team. I don’t think we were a perimeter team tonight. I thought we were very engaged. There’s obviously some mistakes to correct but, overall, I felt our intentions were there. This was a game that could have gone either way.”
“That’s definitely a team and organization that’s going to be around a long time with all their talent,” Suzuki told the media in Buffalo. “I thought we were doing a pretty good job of winning battles and trying to get inside. We had a couple of calls that didn’t go our way. There were opportunities for us to score. We had a couple of two-on-ones that didn’t go our way. They’ve learned how not to lose games. I thought it was a pretty competitive game”
“We definitely got their best tonight,” Hutson said. “We definitely want to be better, too.”
Related