Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Laurent Dauphin – Brendan Gallagher

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Paul Byron

Michael Pezzetta – Ryan Poehling – Artturi Lehkonen

Alexander Romanov – Ben Chiarot

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Kale Clague – Chris Wideman

Sam Montembeault – Andrew Hammond

Cedric Paquette

Tyler Pitlick (undisclosed), Joel Armia (facial injury), Christian Dvorak (upper-body), David Savard (ankle), Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Jake Allen (lower-body), Mathieu Perreault (lower-body), Joel Edmundson (back), Carey Price (knee), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

Corey Schueneman

Game Report

With Dominique Ducharme behind the bench, the Canadiens had not been able to win two games in a row. Now, suddenly, the Habs are riding a four-game winning streak.

Simply, the Canadiens are enjoying playing hockey again.

Once again, Montreal got on the board first with Nick Suzuki driving his goal total into double digits. The Canadiens were opportunistic all game long with the turnover-happy Sabres serving up a steady stream of scoring chances.

Suzuki scored his second goal of the game with his first career penalty shot. The 22-year-old also picked up an assist on Cole Caufield’s goal for a three-point night.

While fans have welcomed the return of the Habs scoring touch, the real story has been the vastly improved defensive play. Tightened team defence has considerably lightened the load for beleaguered Montreal goaltenders. The Canadiens ended a dubious streak of allowing two or more goals in 40 straight games.

As a result, Sam Montembeault earned the first shutout of his NHL career tonight without being severely tested.

Up Next

Plus

Minus

Game Preview