Losers of six straight, the Montreal Canadiens needed to leave Upstate New York with something positive on Monday afternoon. Taking on a Buffalo Sabres squad that came in around the middle of the pack in the Atlantic division, they at least had to put forth a convincing effort, whether or not they ended up leaving with the two points.
They did get those two points, taking a 7-5 barn burner thanks to an explosive game from their three most important players.
Nick Suzuki had this, and one other goal, to go along with two assists, Juraj Slafkovsky had three assists, and Cole Caufield scored twice. To get 12 points from the trio after they had been blanked in the last three games was quite the return to the score sheet, and something they sorely needed. That they managed to do this without being reunited as a trio in the lineup was also quite encouraging to see.
The top six shake-up that Martin St-Louis ran with returned mixed results from a statistical standpoint. The top line of Suzuki, Slafkovsky, and Kirby Dach was dominant at even strength, while the second line with Caufield, Jake Evans, and Alex Newhook had a very difficult afternoon. Caufield still managed to do his damage on the power play, but the issue of how problematic that second line might be over a larger sample at five-on-five remains concerning.
This is a problem that has plagued the Habs since last season. Suzuki, Slafkovsky, and Caufield are driving the bus offensively, but separating them never seems to get the desired result of creating secondary scoring beyond the top line. Until Patrik Laine is back, it doesn’t appear that there is any easy answer as to how they can configure two top-six lines that can do damage. Right now, this appears to be the best they can offer, and hope that the second line can improve with more game reps.
Most importantly, however, we saw a clear effort from the team’s biggest players to make an impact, and did they ever. After three scoreless games, they roared back into the points columns, which made for a pretty fun Monday afternoon game.
Hopefully, this is the kind of performance that can create some momentum for all three of them, regardless of how they line up moving forward.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you typically get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Thursday night when the Habs will pay a visit to the Minnesota Wild.
