*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
Buffalo said enough was enough and they came out playing like it. Tage Thompson had a goal and 3 assists, Jeff Skinner had a 5 point game, and the Buffalo Sabres routed the Montreal Canadiens with a 7-2 victory on Tuesday night in Montreal.
The Sabres entered this road tilt having lost 8 straight games following a strong start to the season that saw them in second place in the Atlantic Division. So they came out and put a stop to that, with a 4 point game from Thompson and a 5 point night from Skinner leading the charge.
Buffalo head coach Don Granato said of finally winning that "It’s taking a weight off my shoulders, I can tell you that personally. It’s fun to see the guys play that way, obviously. They care and they work and we’re young. If I had an older team, I wouldn’t be in these situations, and you go through the streaks. They know where they’re at. These guys get better because of this stuff."
Just 35 seconds into the game, Rasmus Dahlin found the back of the net for the Sabres to make it 1-0. JJ Peterka scored just 17 seconds later to double the lead to 2-0 in less than a minute of play. Alex Tuch scored a power play goal 2:13 into the game and just like that the lead was 3-0. Cole Caufield scored 2:57 in to cut the Canadiens deficit to a 3-1 margin.
In the second period, Skinner widened the lead once again, scoring 11:21 into the period to make the lead 4-1, his 6th goal of the season. Evgenii Dadonov and Chris Wideman got assists on a Sean Monahan goal at the 13:57 mark of the second, cutting the Montreal deficit to 4-2 on his 4th goal of the season.
The 3rd period saw Henri Jokiharju provide the first goal, making the Sabres lead 5-2 on his first goal of the season. 6:39 into the final period, Thompson scored to make it a 6-2 game, assisted by Skinner and Vinnie Hinostroza. Skinner then added a power play goal 14:26 into the 3rd to cap the scoring and seal the deal.
After the game, Tuch said that "We came out with a mission. I thought we went hard to the net from the drop of the puck. We were getting pucks deep and playing simple. We had a lot of conversations, been talking about it a lot, and it's playing on the defensive side, and I thought everyone did that tonight."
Getting the start for the Sabres was Craig Anderson, who put together a strong game. Anderson saved 29 out of 31 shots from the Canadiens, posting a .935 save percentage to increase his record to 4-3-0 in 7 starts.
For the Canadiens, Jake Allen got the start in net and wasn't done any favors. Allen only managed to stop 31 of the 38 Sabres shots on goal, recording a .816 save percentage while doing so. His record now drops to 6-7-0 in 13 starts so far.
Canadiens defenseman David Savard said after the game that "I think it was a bad game all around. We've got to move past it. And obviously we've got some stuff to learn, which is that bad start in the first period and it put us behind. And it's a couple of games now and we've got to make sure we're ready tomorrow to go and play our game. We've been in every game so far if we play our style and our system, and we didn't do that tonight."
Both teams are back in action to complete a back to back on Wednesday night. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen starts for the Sabres against the St. Louis Blues, while Sam Montembeault starts for the Canadiens as they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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