Buffalo roared back playing the kind of road game they have perfected, winning big in Montreal with the series on the line
Boxscore
Score: Buffalo Sabres 7-3 Montreal Canadiens
Shots: BUF 36-22 MTL
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Dahlin 3 (Samuelsson, Benson); Zucker PPG 2 (Norris, Quinn); Benson 5 (Thompson, Byram); Quinn PPG 1 (Dahlin, Thompson); Helenius 2 (Zucker, Dahlin); Quinn PPG 2 (Thompson, Dahlin); Thompson EN 5 (Unassisted); Metsa PPG 1 (McLeod, Dahlin)
Montreal Canadiens Goals: Xhekaj 1 (Evan); Demidov PPG 2 (Hutson, Caufield); Evans 2 (Matheson)
At The Horn
The game could not have gone south as quickly as it did from about thirty seconds in after Rasmus Dahlin put the Sabres in an early lead. Alex Lyon gave up three goals in four minutes, one even strength, one power play and one shorthanded as Montreal roared into a 3-1 lead at the first period.
Buffalo’s postseason looked dead and buried at that point, but in a bold second period effort they came roaring back with three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead, which became 8-3 with another three goal outburst in the final stanza.
Rasmus Dahlin led from the front with a five-point game while the much-maligned Tage Thompson logging a goal and three assists. Jack Quinn broke his goal hoodoo with two on the power play as the Sabres took advantage of Montreal’s indiscipline going 4/6 with the man advantage while holding the hosts to 1/3.
Finally, kudos to the faceoff men tonight as they won 60.7% of them, making a big difference in possession.
Now the two teams meet in a winner-takes-all game on Monday night knowing fully well that both teams have played much better on the road.