MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the playoffs and added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in a dominant Game 3 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Alex Newhook had two goals, including an empty-netter, and Zachary Bolduc, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach also scored for Montreal.
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Lane Hutson and Jake Evans each had two assists, and Jakub Dobes made 26 saves as the Canadiens won consecutive games for the first time in this season’s playoffs.
Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which dropped its first road game of the postseason. Alex Lyon stopped 31 shots in his second straight loss.
The teams split the first two games in Buffalo. The Sabres handed the Canadiens a 4-2 loss in Game 1 before Montreal responded with a 5-1 victory in Game 2.
Game 4 is Tuesday night in Montreal.
Minutes after missing an open net, Caufield scored on the power play for his first goal in six games to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead 6:05 into the second and kick off a wild, four-goal period.
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Hutson deked around a stick-less Jordan Greenway and dropped a pass to Caufield, who scored into the gaping net as the crowd erupted.
The Canadiens appeared to gain a 3-1 lead one minute later when Josh Anderson’s backhand trickled through Lyon as Phillip Danault crashed the crease. The officials, however, ruled no goal.
Bolduc ultimately gave the Canadiens a two-goal advantage at 10:43 in the second after Joe Veleno chased down a puck behind Sabres defenseman Logan Stanley and set him up.
Chaos ensued two minutes later when Beck Malenstyn ran over Dobes, setting off a massive scrum and sending the Canadiens on a power play. Slafkovsky made it 4-1 with a deflection on Hutson’s point shot as Montreal went 2 for 5 with the man advantage.
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Dahlin cut into the deficit with 5:14 left in the second period, sending a shot off the far post.
But Dach restored the three-goal lead at 8:46 in the third when he pulled a loose puck out from under Lyon and fired a shot into the open net.
The goal followed multiple key saves from Dobes, twice denying Zach Benson, as the Canadiens fended off a Sabres pushback that included a nervy penalty kill early in the period.
Newhook, who also scored twice in Game 2, added his second when he was hooked with a clear path to the empty net with 4:46 left in the third.
Large crowds packed the surrounding streets hours ahead of the game. Kirk Muller carried the ceremonial torch before puck drop of the Canadiens’ first second-round playoff game before a full Bell Centre since 2015.
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Thompson wasted little time to — temporarily — quiet the crowd, opening the scoring 53 seconds in after Dahlin’s point shot deflected off the end boards and onto his stick. He ended a seven-game drought after going minus-4 with a costly turnover in Game 2.
Newhook sparked a run of four unanswered goals by the Canadiens.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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