The Sabres played a physical game and out-hit Montreal 44-18, but the physical effort didn’t result in win as the Canadiens absorbed the contact and rolled to a 5-1 victory Friday night to even the series.
Buffalo opened with a heavy forecheck and plenty of contact, but it did little to slow Montreal’s pressure. The Canadiens struck first 1:36 into the opening period after a Sabres turnover in their own end. The puck eventually reached Kaiden Guhle, who fired it toward the net, and Alex Newhook got a piece of it to redirect it past Alex Lyon for the 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later, Mike Matheson doubled the advantage with a seeing-eye wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
Newhook added his second of the night 4:47 into the second period, burying a cross-slot pass from Jake Evans by Lyon to make it 3-0.
Buffalo got on the board in the final minute of the second period when Zach Benson converted a Conor Timmins backdoor pass to beat Jakub Dobes and trim the deficit to 3-1.
But any hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed. Montreal restored its three-goal cushion 3:54 into the third period when Tage Thompson fell down in the offensive zone, allowing Alexandre Carrier to steal the puck, skate down the ice and rip a shot from inside the circle over Lyon’s glove to make it 4-1.
Nick Suzuki added an empty-net goal at 15:59 to close out the 5-1 win and tie the series.
The teams head to Montreal for Game 3 on Sunday night.
