Canadiens edge Sabres, win season-high 4th straight recreation – NHL.com

Caufield, Anderson, Newhook, Evans rating for Montreal
Canadiens at Sabres | Recap
BUFFALO — The Montreal Canadiens gained a season-high fourth straight recreation with a 4-2 victory in opposition to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Middle on Saturday.
Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Alex Newhook and Jake Evans scored for the Canadiens (29-26-5). Jakub Dobes made 23 saves.
“It feels good,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki mentioned. “We knew we needed to come out of the break (for the 4 Nations Face-Off) and get a bunch of wins. Boys are actually purchased in proper now and it’s exhibiting, and that’s an enormous motive we’re getting success.”
Alex Tuch and Jiri Kulich scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for the Sabres (24-29-5), who’ve misplaced two in a row after profitable six of seven.
“We’ve been speaking about odd-numbered rushes since day one. We’ve been speaking about how we handle the puck since day one. We didn’t handle the puck properly sufficient. We didn’t handle the sport properly sufficient,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff mentioned. “… I believe we acquired pissed off as a result of they have been blocking lots of pictures. We should have had 25 to 30 blocked pictures, after which we didn’t put sufficient pucks on web after some time. Even within the third interval, we had some robust angles, we might have put pucks there. I don’t suppose we acquired sufficient pucks on web.”
Caufield gave Montreal a 1-0 lead on the facility play at 1:13 of the second interval, one-timing Patrik Laine’s cross-ice feed from the left circle.
MTL@BUF: Caufield one-times the dish from Laine into the irons for PPG
Tuch tied it 1-1 at 6:04. Jacob Bryson gained a battle within the nook and carried the puck behind the online earlier than sending it to Tuch, who put a wrist shot bar down over Dobes from the suitable circle.
Kulich was uncovered in the suitable circle when he took a cross-ice move from Rasmus Dahlin and one-timed it underneath the bar to place Buffalo forward 2-1 at 7:33.
Anderson completed off some fast passing with a wrist shot from the slot off the push to tie it 2-2 at 13:33.
“It was an enormous purpose,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis mentioned. “It was like, we’re OK, and we acquired the purpose on the finish of the second that basically set us up for the third interval. It’s an enormous win for us, and we went out and acquired it.”
With the groups at 4-on-4, Newhook tipped a Mike Matheson move from the suitable circle and beat Luukkonen blocker aspect at 19:57 for a 3-2 Montreal lead.
“That was brutal. Can’t occur,” Dahlin mentioned. “It was approach too passive. It’s not how we play. We simply tried and kill time after we have been 4-on-4; it doesn’t make sense. Wasn’t adequate.”
Evans scored an empty-net purpose at 18:22 for the 4-2 closing.
“It’s essential to focus your power on issues you may management and, proper now, what we will management is the way in which we play every recreation,” Matheson mentioned. “To know that this one wasn’t excellent however we discovered a approach to win, we have now to do this once more.”
NOTES: Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson had two assists to provide him 45 factors and tie him with Tom Kurvers for second most in a single season by a rookie defenseman in Canadiens historical past. He additionally grew to become the third rookie in group historical past with at the least 10 multiassist video games in a season and tied Man Lapointe for second most multipoint video games in a season by a rookie defenseman. … Kulich’s purpose was his twelfth even-strength purpose of the season, tying Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers) and Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks) for the NHL lead by a rookie. … Tuch prolonged his purpose streak to 3 video games and has 11 factors (six objectives, 5 assists) in his previous eight video games.

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