The Canadiens’ black streak ends in Buffalo

Captain Nick Suzuki collected the 300th, 301st and 302nd points of his NHL career in a 7-5 victory for the Montreal Canadiens against the Sabers in Buffalo on Monday afternoon at the Remembrance Day.

Hoping to revive his team mired in a series of six defeats, head coach Martin St-Louis shuffled his cards in anticipation of the duel against the Sabres, notably separating Cole Caufield and Suzuki. The latter rather occupied a trio completed by Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach, while Caufield was paired with Jake Evans and Alex Newhook.

And it worked.

We needed a victory. The guys continue to evolve. I know it doesn’t guarantee victory, but [cet après-midi]it’s as if the guys said to themselves: “We’ve had enough.” I’m proud of the group.

Josh Anderson, Caufield and Suzuki, twice each, Emil Heineman and Christian Dvorak blackened the score sheet for the Canadian (5-9-2). Slafkovsky had three assists, while Dach and Lane Hutson added two each to their record for the Canadian.

It’s not an easy league, and that’s what I told the guys after the game,” St-Louis said. I told them that sometimes, when I was a player, I said to myself that I never thought I would be able to play in this league again. And sometimes I told myself that I would never score a goal again in this league. And sometimes, as a young coach, you wonder if you’re going to win another game in this league.

The league is demanding, and sometimes it’s not how you play, it’s the result that knocks you down emotionally, he added. But we stayed together, we continued to work on our business, and that’s a victory. We know that we have a recipe to be competitive in every match […] It wasn’t perfect, but we played good hockey.

Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin, JJ Peterka responded for the Sabers (7-8-1), who saw their three-game winning streak end.

Cayden Primeau made nine saves on 14 shots before giving way to Samuel Montembault after 3:43 of play in the third period. The Quebecer made four additional saves.

Sabers goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the third star of the last week of NHL activities, was also thrown out of the game after giving up four times on 18 shots after 40 minutes of play. Devon Levi completed the game in front of the net for the Sabres.

A great start

We cannot blame the Canadian for starting the match slowly, despite the early hour of the duel.

Anderson opened the scoring on a breakaway, with a wrist shot over Luukkonen’s glove, just 4:14 into the first period. It was his third goal of the campaign, on a nice pass from Christian Dvorak.

The Canadian then quickly fell back into his bad habits.

Thompson tied the game 28 seconds later, after breaking free of Caufield’s coverage, to skillfully slip the puck behind Primeau.

Then, the scenario of the first period repeated itself.

The Canadian first took a 2-1 lead early in the middle period when he took advantage of a power play, but the Sabers brought both teams back to square one 19 seconds later.

Caufield, installed at the mouth of Luukkonen’s net, first skillfully redirected a shot from the point of defender Hutson, for his 11th goal of the season. Cozens then hit the target, then Krebs gave the locals a 3-2 lead with a precise wrist shot 59 seconds later.

However, the Canadian captain was responsible for turning the tide in the last minute of the second period. Suzuki rattled the ropes twice in 22 seconds, and it was suddenly 4-3 in favor of CH.

He scored two big goals for us, said Caufield. He raised his level of play at the right times, brought us back into the game and gave us a lot of rhythm for the rest of the match, that’s for sure.

Caufield puts an end to the debate

In the third, the Sabers tried to create a spark by replacing Luukkonen with Levi in ​​net.

The response came from the stick blade of Sabers captain Dahlin, who fired a strong shot that beat Primeau above the glove, on the power play, 1:58 into the game. Then, less than two minutes later Late, Peterka took advantage of the communication problem between Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson to sneak into the right lane and thwart Primeau with a backhand shot between the pads.

St-Louis had enough and sent Montembeault into the fray.

Heineman tied the game 5-5 by firing a quick wrist shot from the slot midway through the period, on the Habs’ first shot in the direction of Levi. Hutson was his accomplice in the sequence.

Caufield, installed at the mouth of the net, finally nailed the coffin for the Sabers by beating Levi on a power play, with a little over seven minutes remaining in the game. It was the American’s 12th goal this season, and his sixth on the power play. Dvorak completed the scoring into an empty net with 49 seconds left.

The CH will complete its four-game trip Thursday evening by visiting the Minnesota Wild. He will then end his week by hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Bell Center on Saturday.