CANADIENS
Montreal

SABRES
Buffalo

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty- Galchenyuk – Andrighetto
Eller – Plekanec – Byron
De la Rose – McCarron – Lessio
Mitchell – Danault – Brown[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov- Barberio
Emelin – Pateryn
Bartley – Beaulieu
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Scrivens
Condon

Scratches:  Stefan Matteau, Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), P.K. Subban (upper-body)
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, David Desharnais, Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu

Game Report

The clock confirmed that this was a long game, over three hours in duration. But frankly, it seemed much longer than that. It was actually a story of two games: the first chapter was a dry and boring affair.

The Sabres had a big advantage in the first period outshooting the Canadiens 15-5. That said, high-danger scoring chances were just 4-0.  While Ben Scrivens was handling a lot of rubber, perhaps his most difficult stops came as a result of mishandling the puck and wandering from the crease.

Zach Bogosian gave the Sabres a first period lead when he batted the puck in after getting his own rebound. Whether the puck was contacted with a high stick could not be determined by review.

Greg Pateryn brought the Habs even just 47 seconds into the second period with his first NHL goal. It is a tribute to Pateryn’s persistence having been selected in the fifth round of the 2008 draft.

While there was chippiness throughout the game, the temperature level rose considerably near the end of the second period. In a scrum around the Sabres net, goaltender Robin Lehner pushed Mike McCarron from behind. When McCarron got back on his feet, he grabbed Lehner’s throat protector setting off an explosion of emotion.

The tensions led to an almost-goalie fight with Ben Scrivens venturing out to his own blueline. Lehner seemingly was ready to engage.

The Canadiens rode the adrenaline rush to score a power-play goal 27 seconds later taking a one-goal lead to the intermission.

The rest of the game was filled with more energy from both teams. It was much more entertaining than what might have been expected from the 12th and 13th place teams in the Eastern conference.

Paul Byron was the overtime hero scoring the winner off the stick of Bogosian.

The Canadiens head to Ottawa to play the Senators on Saturday and then return home for a rare Sunday night date with the Calgary Flames.

~~~

▲     Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Greg Pateryn

▼     Mark Barberio, Nathan Beaulieu, Torrey Mitchell, Phillip Danault, Lucas Lessio, Victor Bartley

1. Ben Scrivens  MTL
2. Greg Pateryn  MTL
3. Marcus Foligno  BUF

• “We played against a team that was fresh, they had a lot of energy, and we played last night and we were not pleased with our performance. Guys bounced back and showed a lot of their character and it was an emotional game from both teams and I’m glad for the guys that got rewarded. Big win.”

Paul Byron

• “For the longest time our team had trouble scoring, getting prime chances, and that’s kind of the luck of the game and bounces here and there. Good things happen when you put pucks on net, and we had bodies going to the net and getting sticks on stuff.”

Ben Scrivens

• “They played hard. I thought we matched them. I thought we had a really good effort and tonight was a game of inches and they got what they needed, and we didn’t.“
• “I had my glove on it and I’m not sure who it was, he got his skate on it and got the puck loose, and obviously I didn’t agree with it but I’m not the ref so that’s how it goes.”

Greg Pateryn

• “It’s an awesome feeling that I can’t really put into words. Everyone thinks maybe this shot or maybe this game one might go in. [Alex Galchenyuk] made a great pass out to me and I was coming in off the bench right down the blue line, so I got a good shot and I let it rip.“

Sabres coach Dan Bylsma

• “I wouldn’t have looked at [composure] as a problem at too many other times, but today, absolutely. I don’t think I’ve seen quite the type of calls that both teams received today in terms of 10-minute [misconducts]. But we certainly let the game get away from us with our composure level and it was a factor in the second period. It was a factor in the third period with us getting off to and being affected by the game and the referee.“

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com