BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Saturday night at the Bell Centre with a chance to clinch the series, you say?
The Montreal Canadiens can book their ticket to the Eastern Conference final Saturday night in what will be absolute bedlam in that arena after taking care of business on the road yet again.
Josh Anderson, Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki scored in the second period Thursday night to rally the Canadiens to a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 before a stunned KeyBank Center crowd.
Montreal improved to 5-2 on the road this postseason. The Canadiens also improved to 5-0 in these Stanley Cup playoffs in games immediately following a loss, and overall, they’re now 10-0 after a defeat going back to the regular season.
If the Carolina Hurricanes were watching, they surely were licking their lips at how both teams defended on this night, especially in the first period and a half. The game began with Buffalo scoring on three of its first four shots, as Jason Zucker, Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius beat shaky Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš.
“The first period was very chaotic. Very chaotic,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “Leaving Dobeš in, you have to remove the emotion. We talked to our goalie coach Marco (Marciano) and asked for his opinion. He said to leave him in. So we decided to do that. Dobeš proved it was the right decision. He played an excellent game after that.”
The middle period began with the Sabres seemingly in full control, buzzing shift after shift in the Habs’ end in the opening four minutes as Montreal struggled to defend in its own zone.
The turning point may have been when Sabres center Tage Thompson skated in alone but was stopped by Dobeš 3:46 into the second period. That could have broken the game open for the Sabres by giving them a 4-2 lead, but the rookie Habs netminder said no.
“The save by Dobeš on Thompson on the breakaway,” St. Louis said, was indeed the turning point for him. “After that, we started to flip the momentum.”
That spurred on a Montreal rally as Anderson, Evans and Suzuki, the latter on the power play, scored as the Canadiens went to the dressing room up 5-3.
You could hear a pin drop at KeyBank Center, where the Sabres are 2-4 this postseason after putting together a 26-10-5 home record in the regular season.
“I think the playoffs are a different animal,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I’ve mentioned friends, family, everything. Not saying that’s what it is; I don’t know that for sure. But our road play has been better. And if our road play is what we need to carry us through this, then we go to Montreal and we win a game, and we come back. And when we come back, we’re gonna pretend we’re on the road.”
The barrage also led to a goalie change as Alex Lyon replaced Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to start the third period.
Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield and Alexandre Texier also scored for the Canadiens, who also got three assists from winger Juraj Slafkovský.
After their 1-for-7 power play in Game 4 was a major reason the Canadiens lost Tuesday night, the Habs went 2-for-2 with the man advantage in Game 5, as their electric power play looked healthy again.
St. Louis’ faith in Dobeš rewarded
After Dobeš allowed goals on three straight shots and had one save on four shots midway through the first period, it would have been justified for St. Louis to ask some questions. That would have been especially true with just how ugly that third goal was, with Helenius spinning and shooting the puck cleanly through Dobeš’ legs from 30 feet out.
But St. Louis stuck with Dobeš, who stared down a future Hall of Famer in Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first round to get the Canadiens to this point. The coach’s loyalty was rewarded, with Dobeš stopping all 32 shots he saw the rest of the way and allowing the Canadiens to catch their breath and get back in the game.
“I told him, ‘Thank you for leaving me in,’” Dobeš said of his coach not pulling him. “Trying to prove myself, it’s a big part of it, having the trust of your coach. I will never disrespect it. I appreciate it. The only thing I was trying to do is give momentum back to the team and tried to keep it tight. And it worked out. …
“I felt fortunate and lucky that I could finish the game and win this one with the team. At the end of the day, we won, everything is good, and we’re excited to go back.”
Dobeš’ biggest save came on a Thompson breakaway in the fourth minute of the second period with the Sabres leading 3-2. The Canadiens tied it on Anderson’s third goal of the playoffs a few minutes later.
The rough start was a new test for the Canadiens’ rookie netminder, who had to shake it off, battle through it and find his game to give his team a chance. Just like every other test Dobeš has faced in these playoffs, he passed with flying colors. — Arpon Basu, Canadiens writer
Another goalie change in Buffalo
Luukkonen gave the Sabres a strong performance in a Game 4 win in Montreal, stopping 29 of 31 shots. But Game 5 was a different story. Luukkonen had some nice moments, including a highlight-reel save on Demidov in the second period. But he also let in a soft goal when a Demidov shot snuck through him, allowing Evans to tap in Montreal’s fourth goal. By the end of the second period, Luukkonen had allowed five goals on 23 shots. Four of those came on high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, so it wasn’t all on Luukkonen. He finished with 18 saves on 23 shots before the Sabres went back to Lyon for the third period.
The Sabres have rotated between Luukkonen and Lyon all season. That has continued in the postseason. Now that Lyon has had a few days off, the Sabres should go back to him facing elimination in Game 6. He’s been the stronger goalie in the playoffs, and the Sabres can’t afford another off night from Luukkonen. — Matthew Fairburn, Sabres writer
Canadiens’ top line breaks the goose egg
It’s hard to believe, but the line of Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovský had not scored a goal at five-on-five in these entire playoffs until Caufield’s goal at 6:31 of the first period.
Ironically, it came in a game where the line was basically buried at five-on-five, primarily by the Sabres’ line of Zach Benson, Josh Norris and Doan. Suzuki’s line dominated that matchup in Game 4 to the tune of an 11-0 advantage in shot attempts with Suzuki and Norris on the ice, but that was not the case in Game 5.
Not even close.
Shot attempts at five-on-five with Suzuki and Norris on the ice in Game 5 were 29-12 Sabres.
“Those three guys are really good players, they contribute a lot, they have good sticks, they’re good off the rush and deep in our zone,” Suzuki said of the Norris line. “I thought we defended pretty well. It’s nice to contribute five-on-five as a line; Cole and Slaf were pretty fired up about that. But we know we can still be a little better. Just keep playing the right way.”
The Caufield goal was his fourth of the playoffs, and he has now scored in three straight games. Suzuki scored on the power play and added two assists, and Slafkovský had three assists. Suzuki and Slafkovský matched their playoff career highs with three points apiece.
The Canadiens’ top line finally appears to be heating up. — Basu
Where is Buffalo’s top line?
The Sabres’ top line has been missing in action this series. After he was plus-8 with 7 points in the first round against Boston, Alex Tuch has zero points in this series and is minus-8. Thompson has two goals and two assists in this series but is still minus-9. Peyton Krebs also doesn’t have a point and is minus-5 this round. That’s obviously nowhere near good enough for what is supposed to be the Sabres’ best line. The Benson-Norris-Doan line has been carrying the team offensively while handling some tough matchups on top of it.
Thompson had a chance to break this game open on a breakaway and made one move too many before Dobeš stopped him. Thompson then took a cross-checking penalty late in the second period, and it led to Montreal’s fifth goal when Suzuki scored on a power play.
While Montreal’s top line combined for 7 points in this game alone, the Sabres’ top-line players have combined for 4 points the entire series. If the Sabres end up losing this series, it will be because they didn’t get nearly enough from their best players. Late in the game, Ruff tried both Helenius and Ryan McLeod in Krebs’ spot on the top line in an attempt to get Tuch and Thompson going. We’ll see if the Sabres have a new top line in Game 6. — Fairburn
