The Montreal Canadiens seek their fourth straight win when they visit the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night for the first of a home-and-home series.
Montreal, which hasn’t put together a four-game streak since it enjoyed a five-game run in February 2022, defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in overtime on Thursday while the Sabres lost 5-2 at the Carolina Hurricanes.
Cole Caufield scored at 3:21 of overtime against the Sharks and the Canadiens pulled within five points of Detroit and Columbus for the Eastern Conference’s wild-card spots.
“It’s kind of just do-or-die, that’s kind of what it is right now,” Caufield said. “I think guys got some rest, some bodies were back, and we play a good team game. And when we do that, we’re pretty dominant and I think we’ve just got to keep that going, stay simple and just stay in the moment.”
Nick Suzuki had two goals and an assist, and Sam Montembeault made 23 saves as Montreal won its third straight game since the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
The Canadiens rallied from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before winning it.
“I think we’re right there,” Suzuki said. “We have our moments where we show we can be a really top team in the league and moments where we kind of show our immaturity a little bit too much. We’re trying to find that balance.”
Suzuki reached 60 points (18 goals, 42 assists) for the fourth consecutive season while Lane Hutson’s on Suzuki’s second goal enabled him to became the sixth-fastest rookie defenseman in NHL history to reach 40 assists in a season (59 games).
After hosting the Sabres Monday, Montreal begins a crucial West Coast trip with stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle.
The Sabres came out of the break with a pair of wins and had won six of seven before falling at Carolina.
Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on seven shots before he was relieved by James Reimer 7:57 into the first period. Reimer made 27 saves.
Buffalo trailed 3-0 by the 9:41 mark and got no closer than within 4-2.
“We got outcompeted,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “They beat us to pucks. (When) we got to pucks, we didn’t execute. A lot of pucks went off our sticks and right to them. They were a lot stronger on the puck than we were.”
Tuch has 10 points, including five goals, in his last eight games.
The Sabres went 1-for-3 on the power play Thursday and 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) in February. They rank 27th in the league (17 percent).
“I thought we actually started really simple,” Tuch said. “We were rimming the puck in and trying to get it in on some of the power plays. Our entries just weren’t good enough, and we didn’t get enough opportunities. I think we missed some open shots as well.”
The Sabres were without forward Jason Zucker, who took a shot to the foot in last Saturday’s win. He was in the lineup Tuesday but skated just 12:57 and “struggled a little bit with his skating,” Ruff said Wednesday.
Caufield scored twice to lead Montreal to a 7-5 win at Buffalo on Nov. 11, and Patrik Laine scored a hat trick in a 6-1 Montreal home win on Dec. 17.
–Field Level Media
