The Canadian’s penalty kill unit had another tough evening that sank the team.
The old beast of the Habs Jeff Skinner collected a goal and three assists and the Buffalo Sabers defeated the Montreal team 6-1.
Skinner now has 26 goals and 20 assists in 41 career games against the Canadian. His 46 points represent a high for him against an NHL team.
The Canadian, who was back in front of his fans after a streak of seven games abroad, nevertheless obtained his share of chances against the Sabres, but he perhaps lacked a little opportunism before seeing his indiscipline the to flow.
The Sabers scored twice on the power play in the second period after a goal was denied to the Habs.
“We would have led 1-0, then we took two penalties that we did not use up,” analyzed head coach Martin St-Louis. We went for a big goal shorthanded, then we had a good start to the third period. However, the third goal hurt us.”
Joel Armia scored the only goal for the Canadian (16-17-5) while shorthanded. Jake Allen made 32 saves.
“I think our forecheck wasn’t working tonight,” said captain Nick Suzuki. “We didn’t manage the puck well and committed turnovers.”
Tage Thompson had two goals and an assist, while Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Quinn each had a goal and an assist for the Sabers (16-19-4). Alex Tuch had two assists and Montrealer Devon Levi made 32 saves in his first career start at the Bell Centre.
“It’s definitely special,” Levi admitted. I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was 5 years old. I saw Carey Price make some glove saves here. It’s incredible to be in net in this building, following in the footsteps of many good goaltenders. I’m not going to forget it.”
The Canadian will play his next game on Saturday, when the New York Rangers are the visitors at the Bell Centre.
A good show, but…
The first period was lively as 28 shots on goal were taken, including 15 by the Canadian.
Levi frustrated Jesse Ylönen three times in quick succession with his right pad. The referees reviewed the sequence, but video officials confirmed that the puck never crossed the goal line.
At the other end of the ice, Allen was lucky twice. He was beaten by long shots from JJ Peterka and Henri Jokiharju, but the puck hit the red frame of the net each time.
Armia beat Levi 2:06 into the second period, but Sabers head coach Don Granato contested the goal and won. Replays showed that Michael Pezzetta made contact with Levi just before Armia shot and the goal was canceled.
If St-Louis said that in his opinion it was a “50-50” game and that he would probably also have contested the goal if he had been in Granato’s chair, the Canadiens players had more difficulty in understand the decision.
“I was a little surprised,” admitted defenseman Jordan Harris. Yes, there was a little contact, but I thought the goalkeeper had time to reposition himself. In addition, “Pezz” was no longer in the goalie zone when the puck returned. It’s hard.”
The Canadian’s indiscipline then opened the door to the Sabres.
Mittelstadt opened the scoring at 5:33, while David Savard was in the penalty box for a stick against Peterka, who had escaped. Mittelstadt was forgotten at the mouth of the net and took advantage of a cross pass from Skinner to score.
Skinner widened the gap at 6:59, while Mitchell Stephens was in the penalty box for an obstruction gesture in the offensive zone. Skinner also beat Allen after receiving a cross pass, this time from Tuch.
St-Louis refused to criticize the work of its shorthanded players.
“We are looking for consistency. There are matches where we are very good,” he insisted, after simply asserting that only a few “individual errors” had led to these goals.
The Habs were punished again when Pezzetta tripped Mattias Samuelsson. This time, he took the opportunity to reduce the gap to just one goal.
Armia stole the puck from Dahlin at the Sabers blue line, then beat Levi with a good wrist shot from the glove side at 13:19.
Levi prevented the Canadian from tying the score before the end of the period. With the home club on the power play, Sabers goaltender Josh Anderson frustrated on a point-blank shot.
The Sabers controlled the game at the start of the third period and managed to widen the gap at 6:45. Quinn surprised Allen on the shield side after accepting a back pass from Peterka.
Thompson dealt a big blow by scoring again for the Sabers at 8:35. Skinner came back from behind the net and tried to get around Allen. Thompson just had to push the loose puck behind the goal line.
The Canadian tried everything by pulling out his goalie with 5:35 left on the clock. However, the Sabers won the faceoff in their zone, then Dahlin showed precision on his release, finding the empty back of the net on a shot from one end of the ice to the other.
Skinner continued to turn the iron in the wound by setting the table for Thompson for the Sabres’ sixth goal with 1:28 left on the clock.