CANADIENS
Montreal

SABRES
Buffalo

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Domi – Shaw
Peca – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen
Deslauriers – Chaput – Agostino
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Benn – Petry
Schlemko – Kulak
Alzner – Mete

[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Niemi
Price

Scratches

Reilly, Hudon, Ouellet

Injuries

Weber, Byron, Armia, Scherbak, Juulsen

Game Report 

Like it or not, overtime (and shootouts) are part of the NHL and have been for some time. A five minute overtime was introduced for regular season ending in a tie in 1983. And the shootout was added in the 2005-06 season.

Many teams practice 3-on-3 hockey. The Philadelphia Flyers are one, with their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms devoting some time at every practice to playing 3-on-3 hockey. 

Under Claude Julien, it is something that the Habs have not rehearsed. Beat reporters confirm that the Canadiens haven’t practiced 3-on-3 once this season. 

So should we be surprised to learn that Montreal has lost nine straight in overtime, a streak going back to December 14, 2017?

Tonight, Phillip Danault committed a turnover in overtime that led to an extended period of possession by the Sabres. Max Domi briefly had the puck but immediately turned it back to Buffalo. Domi then had to take a penalty to prevent a scoring chance.

The Sabres scored on the ensuing power-play — 4-on-3’s are tough to defend — and the home team had their eighth straight win. The Canadiens have lost three in a row.

For Montreal, it was a better effort defensively but they still managed to give up 40 shots of goal. Part of that was due to Antti Niemi putting rebounds back to Sabres shooters far too frequently. With a somewhat heightened attention to the defensive side of the game, Montreal’s offensive game was stifled.

Andrew Shaw scored a power-play goal but was a minus-2. Phillip Danault had two assists, was 59 percent at the faceoff dot but his play in overtime led to the winning goal. David Schlemko picked up an assist but didn’t look very good in his own zone.

Brett Kulak looked good, Jordie Benn too at times but both played too many minutes. Mathew Peca on the fourth line is a reach. With Jesperi Kotkaniemi, he’s in over his head. 

Boston at the Bell Centre on Saturday should be fun.

===

▲  Brendan Gallagher, Brett Kulak

▼  Max Domi, David Schlemko, Jonathan Drouin, Matthew Peca

1. Jeff Skinner  BUF
2. Jack Eichel  BUF
3. Brendan Gallagher  MTL

• “You can’t be satisfied with the point because they’re a team in our division and we had control of the game until the last three minutes when they tied it up.
• “We played a good, sound game overall. We were much better defensively, but (there was a lack of) discipline at the end. We take a penalty. We’re short-handed for two minutes, we failed to clear the puck and it ended up in the back of the net.”
• “We lost a big point. We minimized the scoring chances against a team that’s doing well. We were in a good spot until the final few minutes.”

Andrew Shaw

• “We didn’t get the result we wanted. I think we got better as the game went on. But we were losing some puck battles in front of the net that put us behind the eight-ball.”

Phillip Danault

• “We started badly, but we played well defensively in the second and third period. This is the positive point of tonight’s game.”
• “I think there was a little fatigue.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com