Buffalo and Montreal played a wild, wide-open Game 5, trading five first-period goals before the Canadiens pulled away for a 6-3 win and a 3-2 series lead.
The game started well for Buffalo. After getting pushed around and knocked down, Jason Zucker got up just in time for Jack Quinn’s shot to ping-pong off him and past Jakub Dobeš, giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead just two minutes in.
Montreal answered at 6:31 after capitalizing on a Sabres turnover. Nick Suzuki found Cole Caufield alone at the side of the net, and Caufield tapped it in to tie the game at 1-1.
A little more than a minute later, Josh Doan restored Buffalo’s lead by ripping home his third goal of the playoffs from the top of the circle. That put the Sabres back in front 2-1.
But Montreal responded almost immediately. Alexandre Carrier sent a shot toward the net, and Alexandre Texier redirected it past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to tie the game 2-2 at 7:54.
Buffalo went back ahead later in the period when Konsta Helenius fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that slipped through Dobeš’s five-hole. The Sabres led 3-2 after that one.
Dobeš settled in after the opening frame, and Montreal took control from there.
The Canadiens tied it early in the second period on a faceoff play. Lane Hutson moved down from the blue line and slipped the puck in front to Josh Anderson, who beat Luukkonen for the 3-3 goal at 8:01.
From then on it was all Montreal.
Jake Evans poked home a rebound after Luukkonen lost track of an Ivan Demidov shot, giving the Canadiens a 4-3 lead at 16:15. Soon after, Nick Suzuki scored on the power play from close range and chased Luukkonen from the game.
Demidov added a power-play goal early in the third period, and Montreal cruised from there with a 6-3 win.
The Sabres head to the Bell Centre Saturday needing a win to stay alive.
