On Thursday night the Montreal Canadiens were back in Buffalo to continue their best of seven series against the Sabres with the series tied at two. The result was a 6-3 win for the Habs
Here’s what caught my eye.
The Sabres came out flying while the Habs had another slow start… and it wasn’t enough for Buffalo.
That was an awful start for Montreal. Sloppy clearing attempts and guys being allowed to set up for a picnic in front of Dobes. Slow starts were an issue all season, seemed to be put away for the Tampa series, and have reappeared in this one.
It was obvious that Buffalo would come out flying, and the Canadiens still did what they did. It’s an unfortunate flaw in their young game that may eventually be their undoing this season.
The fact that Montreal started so poorly and still won by a significant margin has to be getting to Buffalo.
Some guys are looking a little tired.
Dobes was not the problem in the first period, but I also didn’t think he was sharp. To my eye he looked a little tired, which is understandable. A goalie change to start the second period would have made perfect sense. But the coach stuck with him and Dobes recovered nicely.
NMatheson is playing way too many minutes and his game is showing it. Some would say he’s in the wrong chair, and that’s worth a discussion. To me he looks overtaxed… tired. Net clearing has never been his schtick but lately he’s practically rolling out a welcome mat to set up in front of Dobes. I’m not convinced Matheson has to play 26 minutes while Xhekaj plays seven.
Important players scored important goals.
Caufield finally scored at even strength to tie the game after Buffalo took the early lead. Hutson delivered the perfect feed to Anderson to tie the game at three. Demidov was a huge factor on the Evans game winner, and then he scored his first playoff goal to seal the win.
The top power play unit produced two goals in this game after their colossal impotence was the turning point in a Game 4 loss. Slafkovsky looked like the consummate power forward on the Suzuki goal and Demidov was looking dangerous long before he scored.
This win wasn’t exactly a clinic of any variety for the Montreal Canadiens, but they stayed level when they could have lost it and they found a way to win.
On Saturday we’ll see if they’ve learned anything about killer instinct yet. Go Habs Go!
Hab At Her 