First period
- Same teams as Saturday, different men in the nets as Samuel Montembeault faces James Reimer at the Bell Centre.
- A very good start from Montreal, and not what was expected from Buffalo after all the comments after last game.
- Vintage Brendan Gallagher drives to the crease, gets yanked by his head, and puts his team on the power play.
- Lindy Ruff is very upset. You can always tell when Montreal is playing well because the opposing coach is angry at the officials.
- Too much passing by the top unit again. This is why Montreal scores so few goals at home.
- If that power play gave some momentum to one of the teams, it was Buffalo.
- The Sabres’ first shot comes 5:22 in.
- David Savard has full possession of the puck as the Habs try to break out, and he flips it in the air to a Sabre standing inside the blue line. Montreal will be better when they replace him with Reinbacher next season.
- Juraj Slafkovský gets checked into the boards while amidst three Sabres players. Maybe you don’t want to see the power play, but you still want the penalties acknowledged.
- Montreal is getting another power play after Bowen Byron slashed Jake Evans’s hand. Let’s hope they actually shoot this time.
- First they need to get the puck, and that took a minute.
- It was worth the wait, however. Cole Caufield went to the side of the net, and accepted a whipped pass from Nick Suzuki to score his 30th goal of the season.
An absolutely sick pass from Nick Suzuki to Cole Caufield for Caufield's 30th of the season!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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- Rasmus Dahlin shoves Brendan Gallagher over the back of Samuel Montembeault once the play is over and everyone on the ice pairs up. Buffalo ends up with a power play out of the sequence, so I guess they should just do that every time.
- Or maybe Suzuki will just make them not want to do anything. Josh Anderson chases down the puck-carrier at the point and pins him along the boards, allowing Mike Matheson to jump up and slip by with the puck. Suzuki accepts Matheson’s pass in the offensive zone, delays long enough to drag Reimer off his angle, and goes far-side to make it 2-0.
Mike Matheson to Nick Suzuki for the shorthanded goal Habs up 2-0!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:35 PM
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- Dahlin is back in the box as he becomes to latest player to attack Evans’s head. He’s lucky that’s just a two-minute minor.
- Hutson mishandles the puck at the blue line and it escapes. We haven’t seen that often from him this year. Nor have we seen it much from Matheson on the second unit after really struggling last season.
- Slafkovský tries to get the puck across the crease to Caufield, but Reimer tips it off the leg of defenceman Connor Clifton and into his own net.
Juraj Slafkovsky banks it off Clifton for the power play goal 3-0 Habs on seven shots
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:40 PM
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- That’s the 20th goal Montreal has scored in this season series, and Suzuki has factored in on half of them.
- Suzuki has points on all three goals, up to 64 one period into his 61st game. Five-game streaks for him, Caufield ,and Hutson. Nothing from Laine yet to keep his going.
- Montreal is going back on the power play as J.J. Peterka chops down Alexandre Carrier.
- Slafkovský tried the exact same play to the one he scored on, but it didn’t go in this time.
- Suzuki and Hutson have a conversation on the ice after the horn sounds, presumably to come up some new ways to score in the second period.
Second period
- Buffalo is looking better to start the second, getting a lot of zone time early. Sam Lafferty misses the net on a wide-open chance.
- Alex Newhook gets sent in on a mini break. He can’t solve Reimer, then ends up just skating into the goalie after the shot. The Sabres didn’t even look at Newhook after the play, so I figured he must have been pushed, but maybe they just don’t like their goaltender. Newhook is off to the box for interference.
- Buffalo spent nearly the full two minutes with its top unit in Montreal’s zone, but Montembeault stopped everything.
- Xhekaj goes on a breakaway. He doesn’t score, and that’s too bad. It would have been a fun reaction.
- Struble is going to the box for cross-checking. The Canadiens are making this difficult for themselves.
- After holding the puck for much of the period, the Sabres finally get it to go in the net off the stick of Alex Tuch. Hopefully that gets Montreal to start playing again.
- Shots were 14-6 Buffalo in the second, but they only got one of the goals back. Montreal can end this with a goal in the third period to put the Sabres away.
Third period
- The opening shift played in Montreal’s zone isn’t what Martin St-Louis had in mind when he sent out the Evans line to start. The Habs are being too passive right now. Buffalo is completely outclassed when the Habs are playing assertively.
- Tage Thompson makes it 3-2. Montreal is letting another quality home start slip away.
- Montreal is just happy to get the puck out over its blue line right now. We’ve returned the Michel Therrien era.
- Newhook tries to get the puck, but has to go through a Sabre’s feet to get. He’s in the box once again, for tripping this time.
- The penalty kill is he calmest the Canadiens have looked in their own zone the last two periods.
- Montreal’s top line plays the first shift in Buffalo’s zone in about an hour and gets about four scoring chances out of it.
- Dahlin, yet again, is going to the box for throwing a full hip-check on a pick attempt. Buffalo’s captain now has as many PIMs tonight as Montreal’s has on the season.
- A nice setup from the boards to below the goal line to Suzuki in front sees Suzuki just flub the shot and leads to an easy save for Reimer.
- Montreal didn’t score, but did drain two minutes off the clock.
- Reimer has gone to the bench. The fans are trying to inspire the final push from their team.
- Evans has Dahlin marked at the point but just lets him keep skating around him, and a second later the game is tied.
- Well they did get a point anyway.
Overtime
- Overtime begins with an icing from Suzuki. Not the greatest start.
- Matheson saves the day by choosing to shoot on a two-on-one. Suzuki gets another point, for 65 in 61 games.
MAGIC MIKE MATHESON OT WINNER THE MIX REMAINS
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 10:49 PM
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- Five wins in a row, and a sweep of the Sabres even if they allowed them one pity point.
- Now off to Edmonton.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) A 50% chance of scoring each night, with 21 more games to go
2) If only the Habs had a top scorer
1) Some interesting decisions ahead
