The Montreal Canadiens continued their slide in the standings on Friday night, losing 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabers.
Twice Tage Thompson, Cody Eakin and Kyle Okposo blacked out the scoresheet for the Sabers (8-10-2), who ended their four-game losing streak.
Josh Anderson was the only one to strike back for the Canadian (5-15-2), who was trying to bounce back after suffering a stinging 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
Goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault will have to wait a little longer before enjoying a second victory this season. He did what he could, under the circumstances, and ended his night’s work with 35 saves.
His opposite, ex-Canadian goaltender Dustin Tokarski, repelled 25 shots in front of the Sabers’ net. It was his first career victory against his former team.
Once again, things started badly for the men of head coach Dominique Ducharme.
The Bleu-blanc-rouge again conceded the first goal of the match. This time around, forward Artturi Lehkonen caused a turnaround deep in his own territory that set the table for Thompson’s net at 4:08 of the first frame.
Anderson brought the two teams back to square one with 7:16 left on the clock, taking advantage of a blunder by Jeff Skinner in the defensive zone to grab a free disc in the enclave and beat Tokarski with a shot precise cuffs. It was his fifth goal this season.
The Sabers came back in the second period, with two unanswered goals.
Eakin initially took advantage of a blunder by Jeff Petry in Saber territory to scramble and skillfully complete a three-on-one descent, making it 2-1 for the locals. Then, with less than five minutes to play in the period, Okposo took advantage of the nonchalance of the Canadian on the power play to double the lead of his team.
Thompson put an end to the Habs’ attempt to come back at 3:29 of the third period, scoring his second goal of the game. And the Canadian suffered a second loss in a row abroad.
Ducharme had again recommended a formation of 11 forwards and seven defenders against the Sabers. The maneuver smiled on him last week, in a 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. Not this time.
Forward Cédric Paquette had given way in the starting squad to defender Mattias Norlinder. The 21-year-old Swede played his third career game on the Bettman Tour, and he did well for a first away from the Bell Center.
Ducharme also took the opportunity to juggle his trios, including Jonathan Drouin, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. An experience which, as has often been the case since the start of the campaign, has yielded mixed results.
It was the second game this season between the Habs and the Sabers. The New York team had won 5-1 on October 14 – Montembeault was then the starting goalkeeper.
The Canadian will play two games in two nights, and Ducharme has already confirmed that goaltender Jake Allen will find his net against the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.