Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third goal of the season in a 4-2 win for the Montreal Canadiens over the Buffalo Sabres at the Bell Centre on Monday night.
The Habs close their homestand with a 3-1 record. They begin a four-game western road trip on Wednesday in Calgary.
Lane Hutson and Jake Evans scored their first goals of the campaign. Jakub Dobes started in goal and made 30 saves, including a few big ones with the Sabres pressing to tie it late.
Oliver Kapanen opened the scoring at 8:29 of the first period with his fourth of the season. Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook drew assists. Alexandre Carrier kickstarted the play, literally, by kicking the puck from along the boards.
They didn’t score on the play, but Demidov and Hutson ended the first with an all-star game-level shift of keep away in the offensive zone.
Montreal outshot Buffalo 14-6 in the first period, but the tables turned in the second. The Sabres outshot the Habs 11-4 in the middle frame and scored once. Jiri Kulich tied it up 1-1 after a long shift by Hutson.
Slafkovsky broke the tie in the third period with a goal scored in-tight on Alex Lyon. Noah Dobson set it up from below the goal line. 2-1 Habs 2:57 into the third.
The Habs got their first two-goal lead of the night with less than nine minutes left in regulation. Alex Newhook intercepted the puck down low and fed a pinching Hutson in the slot. 3-1 Habs.
The Sabres didn’t give up. Less than a minute later, they drove the net and Tyson Kozak was the beneficiary. His first goal of the season pulled the Sabres to within one, down 3-2.
With the Sabres netminder pulled for an extra attacker, Suzuki made a key shot block that allowed Evans to go down the ice and score in the empty net to give the Habs a 4-2 lead in the final moments. That’s how the game ended.
The game was presented in English on Amazon Prime, which means a few more bells and whistles than cable viewers are used to. That included an interview with President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton during the first intermission. In case you missed it, you can watch it here:
Montreal’s big man, Slafkovsky, was the game’s first star with a goal, three hits and four PIMs. Buffalo’s counterpart, Tage Thompson, was a major force in front of Dobes all night, but he failed to light the lamp and ended up minus-2. On defence, Mike Matheson far and away played the most minutes on the night at over 26. Next highest was Dobson at 20:46. They both topped Hockey Stat Cards’ nightly report card. Jayden Struble looked comfortable in place of the injured Kaiden Guhle.
It’s too soon to say there’s a goalie controversy brewing, but if the Habs intend to ride the hot hand, we’ll be seeing more of Dobes on the upcoming four-game road trip. They open with back-to-back games in Calgary and Edmonton, so chances are Montembeault will get a start early on to right the ship. He’s off to a slow start, while Dobes has looked unflappable.
As the Liveblog commenters over on Hockey Inside Out’s YouTube channel observed, goalies run hot and cold, so it’s too soon to say Montembeault has relinquished the No. 1 role. But Dobes is giving food for thought with his strong play.
We’ll also see if Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine are good to go for the trip. They both missed Monday night’s game.
Here’s what the commenters had to say:
3. “I like Struble, they just play a different game. Xhekaj is just harder to replace.” — Steven Greidanus
2. “Hopefully Struble keeps the consistency up. Last year he was the same. Good then indifferent.” — Rick Woods
1. “Announcers are right, in today’s NHL you need to have two good goalies and Montreal has that right now.” — Blue Fro
Related
https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/hockey-inside-out/cowan-canadiens-now-have-a-goalie-battle-not-a-controversy