BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Montreal Canadiens have not lost consecutive games in nearly two months, and they extended that streak when it mattered most on Friday night by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 at KeyBank Center, evening their second-round series at 1-1.
After falling 4-2 in Game 1, the Canadiens responded with a dominant performance, following a pattern they established in the first round—each loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning was immediately followed by a victory. Montreal has not dropped back-to-back games since March 14 and 15, when they lost at home to the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. Since then, the team is 8-0 after defeats.
“I’m proud of the response, I’m not surprised,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “And we’re going to start over for Game 3. Every game has its own story, every series has its own story, and you can’t let events dictate the story. You’ve just got to keep writing. Rewrite it if you don’t like it.”
Alex Newhook scored twice in Game 2, marking his first multi-goal playoff game. The forward has now netted three goals in his last three contests, including the series-winner in Game 7 against the Lightning. Defenseman Mike Matheson added what proved to be the game-winner with his first goal of the postseason.
The Canadiens jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period, silencing the energetic KeyBank Center crowd. Newhook opened the scoring just 96 seconds in, tipping a Kaiden Guhle feed past Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon. Matheson made it 2-0 at 4:27 with a point shot that Lyon should have saved. Newhook then converted a Jake Evans pass at the back post at 4:47 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-0.
“I thought he was great right from the start,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said of Newhook and his line with Evans and rookie Ivan Demidov. “After that goal, he continued to dominate the whole game. He was big on the penalty kill, their line generated a lot at five-on-five as well. Big effort from those guys.”
Sabres forward Zach Benson cut the deficit with his third goal of the playoffs, scoring with 37.2 seconds left in the second period after forcing a turnover in Montreal’s zone. But Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier restored the three-goal lead at 3:54 of the third, extinguishing any momentum Buffalo might have built.
“They’re such a skilled team, they have so much talent on that team,” said Canadiens rookie goaltender Jakub Dobeš, who made 29 saves in the win. “Limiting them in space and on rushes always helps. Yeah, I feel like we improved from Game 1, from myself to the team. We’re looking to stay hungry and repeat the same thing on Sunday.”
Suzuki sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 4:01 remaining in the third period, his third goal of the playoffs. The Canadiens showed no signs of panic after their Game 1 loss, and that calm carried into Game 2.
“Confidence is definitely not low right now,” Evans said Friday morning. “We believe in each other.”
For the second straight series, the Sabres delivered a lackluster home performance in Game 2. Their slow start drained the energy from what had been a raucous home crowd. Buffalo is now 2-3 at home in the playoffs and a perfect 3-0 on the road as the series shifts to Montreal for Games 3 and 4.