FINAL: BUF 2 MTL 5
SHOTS: BUF 39 MTL 35
POWER PLAY: BUF 1/3 MTL 0/1
HITS: BUF 31 MTL 16
BLOCKED SHOTS: BUF 21 MTL 16
GOALS:
MTL: Max Pacioretty (22) assisted by Alex Radulov (26) and Phillip Danault (16)
MTL: Max Pacioretty (23) assisted by Alex Radulov (27) and Phillip Danault (17)
MTL: David Desharnais (4) assisted by Sven Andrighetto (6)
MTL: Paul Byron (14) assisted by Andrei Markov (20) and Tomas Plekanec (16)
MTL: Max Pacioretty (24) assisted by Alex Radulov (28)
BUF: Dmitry Kulikov (1) assisted by Cal O’Reilly (1)
BUF: Brian Gionta (12) assisted by Cody Franson (12) and Evander Kane (10)
RECAP:
After a rough 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, the Sabres were able to have 4 days of rest because of the all-star break. This game would be the last game in the month of January for Buffalo. The Sabres had a record of 7-4-1 this month.
Late in the 1st period, Alex Radulov passed the puck through Ristolainen’s legs to find Pacioretty and the Habs’ captain put the puck past the diving Lehner to give Montreal the 1-0 lead.
Lehner made a couple very nice saves in the 1st period and Jack Eichel looked great on Buffalo’s 1st power play of the game.
After being completely dominated for 9 minutes, the Sabres left Max Pacioretty wide open in the slot and Pacioretty slapped the puck past Lehner.
Minutes later, the awful defensive play would continue. Cody Franson made a beautiful pass to David Desharnais who then beat Robin Lehner.
Greg Pateryn hit Zemgus Girgensons in the corner and Zemgus was slow at getting up and he went straight to the Buffalo bench. But he did return to the game.
Kyle Okposo went down with looked like a foot injury and while he was down former Sabre Paul Byron put in his 14th of the season. Okposo did return to the game.
The 2nd period of this game was probably Buffalo’s worst period of the season. They could barely get the puck out of their own end and Lehner was hung out to dry on several occasions. They allowed 6 odd man rushes and also had 10 turnovers in the 2nd frame.
Zach Bogosian couldn’t clear the puck, Alex Radulov exposed our awful defense, and Pacioretty completed the hat trick.
Dmitry Kulikov finally scored his first goal of the season tonight. He has been struggling with a back injury the whole season.
Gionta scored a late power play goal to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Zach Bogosian was a very solid -5 in this game. He had a very rough game.
I know for a fact several Sabres fans are gonna blame Lehner for this loss but that is just insane. Lehner was hung out to dry on all of the Montreal goals tonight. This loss is because of the team’s defense. And I’m not talking just about our 6 defensemen. I’m talking about the defensive play of the forwards as well. Overall this was a very bad game played by the Sabres. Buffalo will face the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
