Another catastrophic start to the game undermined the Canadiens’ chances of victory on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
The Buffalo Sabers scored three times in the first three minutes of play and cruised to a 7-2 win over the Montreal squad.
Once is not custom in the eyes of Martin St-Louis, but now his troops conceded the first two goals of a meeting in the first period for the fourth time in a row.
If the Habs were able to come from behind on Saturday before defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout, there was no miracle this time around.
The Canadian could have given himself better chances of recovery if the numerical advantage had been productive. The evening was particularly painful for the first unit of the Habs. St. Louis saw his men finish the game with a 0-for-6 record on the power play.
Jeff Skinner had two goals and three assists for the Sabers (8-11-0), while Tage Thompson had a goal and three assists and linemate Alex Tuch had a goal and two assists.
Rasmus Dahlin was credited with a goal and two assists, while Henri Jokiharju and JJ Peterka also scored for the visitors. Dylan Cozens had two assists and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.
The Sabers snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Cole Caufield and Sean Monahan replied for the Canadiens (9-9-1), who have lost three of their last four games. Jake Allen stopped 31 pitches.
Forward Mike Hoffman was not in uniform for the Canadiens due to a lower body injury. Defenders Arber Xhekaj and Johnathan Kovacevic were left out.
Joel Armia was back on offense after missing three games with an upper body injury. Jordan Harris and Chris Wideman have been inserted into the lineup on the defense side.
The Canadian will play again on Wednesday, when he visits the Columbus Blue Jackets.
False start
A cold shower quickly fell on the spectators at the Bell Center.
Dahlin got the ball rolling for the Sabers 35 seconds into the game, taking advantage of plenty of slot space to fire off a good shot. Peterka took advantage of a puck that Allen never controlled after a long shot from Jack Quinn to make it 2-0 after 52 seconds of play.
The Sabers added it at 2:13 on a power play. Tuch surprised Allen from the top of the face-off circle to the goaltender’s left.
Caufield quickly gave the Canadiens momentum by scoring on a one-timer at 2:57.
The Sabers received three minor penalties before the end of the first period, but the Canadian was unable to take advantage of them.
The visitors started the second period strong, before returning to visiting the penalty box with regularity.
Still, the Sabers found a way to restore their three-goal lead with 8:39 to go. Skinner took advantage of a nice discount from Thompson to beat Allen.
Once again, the Canadian gave himself a reason to believe in the comeback by closing the gap before the end of the second period. Monahan took advantage of his own comeback after a fine individual effort to beat Anderson at 13:57.
The Sabers, however, stunned the Canadian with two goals early in the third period. Jokiharju scored following a fine snap from Tuch at 3:48. Thompson then moved the ropes at 6:39 with a sharp shot.
Skinner turned the iron in the wound by scoring on the power play with 5: 34 left on the clock. Allen smashed his stick against his post to vent some frustration.