Sabres vs Habs Recap: Comeback Effort Derailed

Tuesday March 19th, 2013

Game Recap: A dominating offensive performance couldn’t make up for indiscipline and sloppy defensive play.

BUFFALO SABRES 11-15-4 26 POINTS 13th in the East	MONTREAL CANADIENS 19-5-5 43 POINTS 2nd in the East
3	2

Top Scorers:

SABRES		CANADIENS
	Steve Ott 2G Ville Leino 2A Tyler Ennis 1G Tyler Myers 1A Jordan Leopold 1A		Max Pacioretty 1G 4SOG Colby Armstrong 1G plus-1 Lars Eller 1A plus-1 Alex Galchenyuk 1A plus-1 Brendan Gallagher 1A Andrei Markov 1A

Scoring Summary:

Shots on Goal:

Goaltending:

SABRES		CANADIENS
Jhonas Enroth WIN	Record: 2-2-0 SA: 34 Sv%: .941	Carey Price OT LOSS	Record: 15-4-4 SA : 21 Sv%: .857

Lineup Notes:

• Habs starting six: David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Carey Price
• Scratched: Tomas Kaberle
• Michael Ryder returned to the lineup following his groin injury. Gabriel Dumont was bumped to the fourth line. Colby Armstrong played with Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk.
• Scouts from the Blues, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Avalanche in attendance at the Bell Centre. St Louis GM Doug Armstrong also present.
• During the first period the Canadiens organization presented a tribute to former team executive Frank Selke Jr. who died on Monday.
• Habs Assistant GM Rick Dudley attended the Winnipeg – Boston game tonight (he has been at last three Winnipeg Jets games.) Could be looking at Chris Thorburn and Alexander Burmistrov. Thrashers, with Dudley as GM, drafted Burmistrov  8th-overall in 2010.

What you need to know:

• With the Sabres (twice) and the Islanders on the schedule, this was supposed to be a relatively easy week for the high-flying Habs who were looking to run their streak to six wins in a row.
• It was a tough first period for the Canadiens and the David Desharnais line who were on the ice for both Sabres goals. On the game’s opening marker, P.K. Subban failed to clear the puck from the defensive zone and Desharnais was knocked off the puck creating a turnover.
• In the second and third periods, Habs dominated play outshooting the Sabres 26-to-8. By the end of the game Montreal held a wide margin in territorial advantage with 81 shots directed at the Buffalo goal to only 37 for the Sabres.
• Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth was very shaky for most of the game but the Canadiens could not take adavantage — 47 shots missed the net or were blocked by Buffalo.
• Brendan Gallagher was the best player for Montreal with his determined effort being the key to spark the Habs comeback to tie the game.
• Colby Armstrong seemed lost on the line with Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk spending most of the evening admiring the talents of his linemates.  However, Armstrong was in the right place at the right time for the tying goal after some tremendous work by Eller and Galchenyuk.
• Sabres won in overtime on a power-play goal by Steve Ott, his second of the game — P.K. Subban had been sent off for hi-sticking Mark Pysyk. While the call was questionable, there was no reason for Subban to go for a lights-out hit in overtime. It was a selfish play.

Injury/Roster Report:

• No new Habs injuries.
• Sabres forward Thomas Vanek left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return after being struck by a point shot.

NHL 3 Stars:
	Steve Ott Jhonas Enroth Brendan Gallagher

Coach Michel Therrien:

• On P.K. Subban’s overtime penalty: “It was a bad penalty especially with the effort the guys did in the second and third. We’re gonna take care of that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
• “We went through the motions in the first period. We were not at our best, that’s for sure but we never quit. Thought the guys worked really hard to make a comeback.”
• “We did mention to the guys between the first and second period that we were missing the net way too much.”
• “We had tons of chances and we capitalized on two of them. I really liked the way we played in the second and third.”
• “The effort was there. For me, as long as the effort is there, I’ll be satisfied.”

P.K Subban:

• “I yelled at the ref the whole game. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Sabres interim coach Ron Rolston on Habs pressure for final 40 minutes:

• “I think they stepped it up a notch and we got caught on long shifts. That hurt us in terms of getting fresh guys out on the ice.”

Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth:

• “This was a real tough game for me, a lot of movement in the crease; I’m pretty tired right now. But I think the guys did a very good job blocking shots, clearing rebounds and jumping on pucks.”

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