Canadiens vs. Sabres Game 5: Key takeaways as Habs bounce back again, eye home clincher

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Josh Anderson, Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki scored in the second period Thursday night to rally the Canadiens to a 6-3 win in Game 5 before a stunned KeyBank Center crowd. Montreal improved to 5-2 on the road this postseason. The Canadiens also improved to 5-0 in these Stanley Cup playoffs in games immediately following a loss, and overall, they’re now 10-0 after a defeat going back to the regular season. If the Carolina Hurricanes were watching, they surely were licking their lips at how both teams defended on this night, especially in the first period and a half. The game began with Buffalo scoring on three of its first four shots, as Jason Zucker, Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius all beat shaky Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš. The middle period began with the Sabres seemingly in full control, buzzing shift after shift in the Habs end in the opening four minutes as Montreal struggled to defend in its own zone. The turning point may have been when Sabres center Tage Thompson skated in alone but was stopped by Dobeš 3:46 into the second period. That could have broken the game open for the Sabres by giving them a 4-2 lead, but the rookie Habs netminder said no. That spurred on a Montreal rally as Anderson, Evans and Suzuki, the latter on the power play, all scored as the Canadiens went to the dressing room up 5-3. You could hear a pin drop at KeyBank Center. The barrage also led to a goalie change as Alex Lyon replaced Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to start the third period. Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield and Alexandre Texier also scored for the Canadiens, who also got three assists from winger Juraj Slafkovský. After their 1-for-7 power play in Game 4 was a major reason the Canadiens lost Tuesday night, the Habs went 2-for-2 with the man advantage in Game 5, as their electric power play looked healthy again. After Dobeš allowed goals on three straight shots and had one save on four shots midway through the first period, it would have been justified for Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis to ask some questions. That would have been especially true with just how ugly that third goal was, with Helenius spinning and shooting the puck cleanly through Dobeš’ legs from 30 feet out. But St. Louis stuck with Dobeš, who stared down a future Hall of Famer in Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first round to get the Canadiens to this point. The coach’s loyalty was rewarded, with Dobeš stopping all 32 shots he saw the rest of the way and allowing the Canadiens to catch their breath and get back in the game. Dobeš’ biggest save came on a Tage Thompson breakaway in the fourth minute of the second period with the Sabres leading 3-2. The Canadiens tied it on Anderson’s third goal of the playoffs a few minutes later. The rough start was a new test for the Canadiens’ rookie netminder, who had to shake it off, battle through it and find his game to give his team a chance. Just like every other test Dobeš has faced in these playoffs, he passed with flying colors. — Arpon Basu, Canadiens writer Luukkonen gave the Sabres a strong performance in a Game 4 win in Montreal, stopping 28 of 30 shots. But Game 5 was a different story. Luukkonen had some nice moments, including a highlight-reel save on Ivan Demidov in the second period. But he also let in a soft goal when a Demidov shot snuck through him, allowing Evans to tap in Montreal’s fifth goal of the night. By the end of the second period, Luukkonen had allowed five goals on 22 shots. Four of those came on high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, so it wasn’t all on Luukkonen. He finished with 18 saves on 23 shots before the Sabres went back to Alex Lyon for the third period. The Sabres have rotated between Luukkonen and Lyon all season. That has continued in the postseason. Now that Lyon has had a few days off, the Sabres should go back to him facing elimination in Game 6. He’s been the stronger goalie in the playoffs, and the Sabres can’t afford another off night from Luukkonen. — Matthew Fairburn, Sabres writer It’s hard to believe, but the line of Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovský had not scored a goal at five-on-five in these entire playoffs until Caufield’s goal at 6:31 of the first period broke that streak. Ironically, it came in a game where the line was basically buried at five-on-five, primarily by the Sabres line of Zach Benson, Josh Norris and Doan. Suzuki’s line dominated that matchup in Game 4 to the tune of an 11-0 advantage in shot attempts with Suzuki and Norris on the ice, but that was not the case in Game 5. Still, the Caufield goal was his fourth of the playoffs, and he has now scored in three straight games. Suzuki scored on the power play and added two assists, and Slafkovský had three assists. Suzuki and Slafkovský matched their playoff career highs with three points apiece. The Canadiens’ top line finally appears to be heating up. — Basu The Sabres’ top line has been missing in action this series. After he was plus-eight with seven points in the first round against Boston, Alex Tuch has zero points in this series and is minus-eight. Thompson has two goals and two assists in this series but is still minus-nine. Peyton Krebs also doesn’t have a point and is minus-five this round. That’s obviously nowhere near good enough for what is supposed to be the Sabres’ best line. The Benson-Norris-Doan line has been carrying the team offensively while handling some tough matchups on top of it. Thompson had a chance to break this game open on a breakaway and made one move too many before Dobeš stopped him. Thompson then took a cross-checking penalty late in the second period, and it led to Montreal’s fifth goal of the game when Suzuki scored on a power play. While Montreal’s top line combined for seven points in this game alone, the Sabres’ top-line players have combined for four points the entire series. If the Sabres end up losing this series, it will be because they didn’t get nearly enough from their best players. Late in the game, Ruff tried both Helenius and Ryan McLeod in Krebs’ spot on the top line in an attempt to get Tuch and Thompson going. We’ll see if the Sabres have a new top line in Game 6. — Fairburn Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms