The Canadiens celebrate Alex Newhook’s game-winning goal in Buffalo – Photo credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
The Montreal Canadiens took on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night and with only two more games to play before the March, 7 trade deadline, both teams played with intensity. The Habs are only five points out of the playoffs and the players have very little time left to prove to GM Kent Hughes that they deserve to be given a chance to make them.
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No less than 12 teams had scouts at tonight’s game. The Anaheim Ducks, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars, the Florida Panthers, the Minnesota Wild, the Ottawa Senators, the Seattle Kraken (2), the St. Louis Blues, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks were all represented.
There’s no way to know which team is watching which players but the Canadiens have four pending UFA dressed tonight and they all could be gone by Friday night. P.K. specialist Jake Evans and Joel Armia probably have the best odds of moving, but there could also be some value in Christian Dvorak and David Savard.
While the Canadiens’ defensive corps looked solid and balanced during their win streak at the start of the year, it’s been much more difficult since Kaiden Guhle was injured. Much like when Emil Heineman’s absence wrecked havocked in Martin St-Louis’ lines up front, the blueliner’s departure forced him to bring Jayden Struble back in the lineup and shuffle his pairs.
The defensemen often struggle to be first on the rebounds and coverage deficiencies are much more frequent, making the goaltenders’ life much more complicated. It’s far from being all doom and gloom however, Jayden Struble jumping on Beck Malenstyn after he dared to touch Jakub Dobes was the kind of reaction you want to see. Full marks as well from preventing a goal in the final frame with Dobes laying down on the ice.
One of the highlights from this game for me was when Lane Hutson was dispossessed on the blueline on the power play. He backchecked like the wind to fix his mistake, gets the puck back and immediately shifts to attacking mode. Spotted Nick Suzuki and seconds later, the puck was in the back of the Sabres net. He’s not perfect defensively, far from it, but he doesn’t get enough credit for how hard he tries to fix any mistakes he makes. Better still, if he fails and the puck ends up in the back of his net, he does not let it get to him, he moves on.
In the middle frame, the Canadiens scored a back breaking go-ahead goal with 2.6 seconds to go in the period. Not so long ago, they were conceding those deflating lamplighters, but not anymore. They stay focused on the task at hand until it’s time to head back to the dressing room and it’s serving them well.
On Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, Suzuki scored with 56 seconds to go in the first frame to tie up the game. Scoring at crunch time is a hallmark of competitive time, they find a way to score when it matters the most and the Canadiens are learning to do just that. Especially since every game is do or die right now and the Habs best players are not shying away from the importance of the moment.
It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t always pretty, but the Canadiens signed a 4-2 win over the Sabres. It had been a good long while since Dobes signed a win, but he still looked confident in net. He even decided to antagonize Jordan Greenway in the last minute of the third period, the left winger fell for it and was sent to the box for two minutes, giving the Habs a power play.
That’s four wins in a row for the Canadiens who now find themselves three points out of the playoffs. That’s a third triumph over the Sabres this season and the Habs will be looking for the season sweep when they welcome Buffalo at the Bell Centre on Monday night.
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