Montreal, Quebec (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres skate into Montreal on Monday for their game against the Canadiens with a two-game winning streak.
In the Sabres 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers they went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and lead the NHL at 95.7%. They also are 5-for-7 on the power play lately after starting 0-for-11. Buffalo is sixth overall with the extra man at 27.8%.
Injuries keep piling up as both Justin Danforth and Jacob Bryson are now out. That will put Noah Ostlund into the lineup as well as either Zac Jones or Zach Metsa on defense.
Alex Lyon has played every minute so far this season in goal and has a 2.43 goals against and .929 save percentage. He’ll get the call on Monday.
After just two games Zach Benson leads the team in scoring with no goals and five assists. In his last two games Josh Doan has two goals and three assists to tie Benson and Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch all have four points in three games. Doan spoke after the Florida win about how he loves being in chaos. For the pregame show I asked him what his definition of chaos is,
“Throughout the game there is bouncing pucks, there’s loose puck battles, rebound are available and to be in the middle of that for me it’s the part of the game that’s not the prettiest style, or side of the game, so just being involved in those little areas and winning those extra battles that give you puck possessions and give you opportunities.”
From where I was sitting, when Doan and Benson are doing those things, teammates notice and Doan feels it becomes contagious,
“When guys see him do it (Benson) and if I get to the net and then you get a guy on each line going to the net, it kind of drags the rest of your line in and the other lines see that and they want to follow suit and once you see the opportunities that guys get around the net it drives you and drag you there you’re like ‘He’s getting opportunities there, I want to see what I can get.’
Doan no longer plays hockey in Utah or Arizona. Being in Buffalo he knows it’s a blue collar city and he couldn’t be happier than to play for fans like that,
“I’ve had a great time living downtown right by the water has been awesome and getting an opportunity to get out and walk around that area has been cool.
“It’s a blue collar town and the way I want to play and the way I was brought up is that style and you can build off of that and build a culture off that and at the end of the day this city supports teams that work hard and they just want to see good effort and we’re going to take pride and show that we care.”
Beck Malenstyn is not with the team as Lindy Ruff indicated that they may be adding to their family. With Jacob Bryson still in concussion protocol, Zach Metsa will play in his first NHL game.
Last season it was Sam Montemeault who played so well in goal to lift the Canadiens. The Habs are still 4-2-0 with him playing poorly. That puts Jakub Dobes in net on Monday. He’s 2-0-0 with a 1.46 goals against and .940 save percentage.
Injuries are starting to hit the Canadiens too as Kaiden Guhle is out 4-to-6 weeks. While Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach are day-to-day.
Montreal’s offense is coming from the places you’d expect and Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki both have eight points in six games.
Join “Schopp and the Bulldog” for the pregame starting at 6:30 when you’ll hear from Ruff, Doan and Tyson Kozak.