After losing Game 1 4-2 on Wednesday night, the Montreal Canadiens needed a bounce-back effort to even out their series with the Buffalo Sabres, and they got it. If the Habs looked like their gear stick was stuck in Tampa speed in Game 1, that wasn’t the case in Game 2. Martin St-Louis’ men were ready straight from puck drop, and the hosts looked somewhat surprised.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead with less than five minutes played, and they never looked back. While Cole Caufield failed to find the back of the net, he was much more visible on the night. He had two shots on net, three missed shots, and rang one off the crossbar for six attempts on net, which is a very good sign.
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Lane Hutson blamed himself after Game 1, saying everyone was ready to play that night except him. That was a harsh criticism from the blueliner, but he’s always been his own toughest critic. But as he always does after a tougher game, he bounced right back. He has three shots on net in the first frame alone, drew a penalty and got an assist on the first goal of the game.
Two games into this series, Zach Benson has made no friends, on or off the ice. Both the Canadiens players and their fans have had enough of the diminutive winger. He was the first star in Game 1 with two assists, and in Game 2, he got Buffalo on the scoreboard, on top of throwing a lot of hits.
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40 minutes in, he had four hits, double his total from Game 1, and he never missed a chance to chirp the opponents. Even after he scored a goal, his immediate reaction was to skate at Jakub Dobes to rub it in. The lineman stopped him, but you can tell he loves stirring the pot.
During the second frame, the Canadiens had two power-play opportunities but failed to score on either. They still built momentum from them, because they had some good puck possession and passing, a lot of passing, but there comes a time when you have to at least capitalize on those opportunities.
In one of those man-advantage situations, a Sabres player had no stick. You have to take advantage of that; that’s essentially playing against three and a half men. Furthermore, during the same power play, Juraj Slafkovsky made two soft no-look back passes and very nearly gave away possession. On one of those occurrences, the puck exited the zone, forcing everyone to come out. There’s a time and a place for that kind of play, and it’s not when your team is in full control, pressuring an out-of-breath opponent.
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It went under the radar this year with so many Habs setting important milestones and Alex Newhook missing a lot of time with an injury, but the Newfoundlander had a very good season. He put up 25 points in just 42 games playing alongside a pair of rookies.
Before Game 2, he only had two points in the playoffs, but one of them was the series-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even when he’s not scoring, he’s really engaged out there and making a difference for the Habs.
On a night where the Canadiens needed to bounce back, he scored the first goal of the game and added a beauty on a two-on-one with Jake Evans at the end of a penalty kill. He still has another year on his contract, but if he keeps it up, he could earn himself a new one in Montreal after next season.
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With the Canadiens having a commanding lead late in the third, both teams started setting the table for Game 3. There were plenty of uncalled shoves, stick hits, and other extracurricular activities until the referee had had enough and sent Benson to the box for two minutes. If these two teams didn’t hate each other before the start of the series, they absolutely do now.
The Bell Centre crowd should be treated to a spirited battle on Sunday night as the Sabres will be keen to get back the home-ice advantage they lost on Friday night.
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Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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