Montreal, QC (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Sabres earned a huge Game 4 win on the road over the Canadiens Tuesday night. Zach Benson scored the go-ahead goal early in the third, as Buffalo held on for the 3-2 victory to even the series 2-2. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was solid in his return to the net, stopping 28 shots in the win.
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Buffalo came out carrying the offensive play in Game 4 and would jump out to a 1-0 lead as Mattias Samuelsson scored on a great feed from Josh Norris.
Midway through the first, Jack Quinn crashed the net on a rebound that was gloved by Jakub Dobes. Moments after, NHL officials stopped play to go back and review the glove save to determine if the puck was actually in the net. After a lengthy review, it was called a goal and for the moment the Sabres thought they had a 2-0 lead. But after the goal call, Montreal challenged for goaltender interference and the officials went back to review the play. The referees then said it was interference and the goal was then taken off the board. There was approximately ten minutes of review time for both calls.
Montreal took advantage of the energy change in the building after the Buffalo goal came off the board and would score moments later off a failed clearing attempt with Jake Evans feeding Alex Newhook in front to even the game 1-1.
Late in the period Tage Thompson got called for cross checking and the Canadiens took the 2-1 lead on the power play as Cole Caufield beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen under his pad in tight with just 12.2 seconds left in the first period.
With Alexandre Carrier in the box for a high-sticking double minor, the Sabres got some puck luck on the power play as Tage Thompson sent the puck into the corner and it took a crazy carom to the Montreal net and bounced off the pad of Dobes and into the net to tie the game 2-2.
Late in the second period, Buffalo's parade to the box continued as Bowen Byram was called for a 4-minute double minor high sticking penalty. The Sabres penalty kill was up to the task at the end of the second and the start of the third to keep the game tied.
Just after killing off the double minor, the Sabres got a chance with the man advantage as Jake Evans got sent to the box for holding Peyton Krebs. The power play would come through again as Zach Benson was stationed in front, scoring to take the 3-2 lead.
The Sabres played a clean third after taking seven penalties in the first two periods of the game. After taking the lead, they would hold on for a 3-2 victory to even the series.
Mattias Samuelsson had a huge game on the back end. Scoring the first goal of the night and notching 6 hits and 6 blocked shots to earn the 2nd Star of the Game.
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GAME SUMMARY:
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 6:32 - Mattias Samuelsson (3) (Josh Norris, Josh Doan)
MTL: 10:08 - Alex Newhook (6) (Jake Evans, Ivan Demidov), 19:47 - Cole Caufield (3)(PPG) (Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson)
Second Period:
BUF: 7:00 - Tage Thompson (4)(PPG) (Rasmus Dahlin)
MTL: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 4:41 - Zach Benson (4)(PPG) (Josh Doan, Tage Thompson)
MTL: NONE
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Blue Star Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - BUF
2.) Mattias Samuelsson - BUF
3.) Cole Caufield - MTL
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What's Next: The two teams head back to Buffalo for Game 5 on Thursday night at KeyBank Center. Catch all the action on WGR Sports Radio 550 starting with the pregame at 6:00 p.m. ET with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray have the call with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
Buffalo power play scores twice in 3-2 win over Montreal
Buffalo power play scores twice in 3-2 win over Montreal
