Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550/WBEN) - Despite battling back from a 2-0 third period deficit, the Buffalo Sabres could not come up with an extra point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at KeyBank Center.
In addition, the Sabres' special teams comes up empty-handed on the night, going 0-for-5 on the power play, while also giving up a power play goal to the Canadiens on four penalty kill opportunities.
The Canadiens were gifted an early scoring chance in the Buffalo zone as forward Sean Monahan headed to the net after getting behind Sabres forward Zach Benson. However, goalie Devon Levi was ready for the test, getting across to make the save.
Moments later, the Sabres went back the other way on a 3-on-1 rush with Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Casey Mittelstadt. After waiting out for just a moment, Thompson fed Mittelstadt at the side of the Canadiens net, but the shot ended up hitting the post.
Where the Sabres struggled in the opening period was on the man advantage, as the Canadiens committed three tripping penalties that gave Buffalo some chances on the power play. However, the Sabres failed to convert on four shots on goal.
In total, the Sabres ended up with 17 shots to Montreal's seven, but the score remained 0-0 through 20 minutes.
With nine minutes remaining on the clock in the second period, the Sabres found themselves in a predicament as forward Eric Robinson was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct.
While there was a Canadiens roughing penalty to defenseman Kaiden Guhle that cut the five minutes of power play time to three minutes, it still opened the door for Montreal to get the game's opening goal.
With one second remaining in 4-on-4 time, the Canadiens struck first, as defenseman Jayden Struble jumped up on the play and was able to re-direct a shot from Johnathan Kovacevic just past the blocker of Levi in goal.
Just 14 seconds later, the Canadiens upped their lead to 2-0, as captain Nick Suzuki was able to jet through the Buffalo blue line, find open space and wire a shot past the blocker of Levi.
The Canadiens were able to fire 15 shots on goal in the second period to Buffalo's 12, and entered the locker room for the second intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Buffalo was awarded another power play chance in the second period, but failed to convert on three shots on goal.
The Sabres responded just 1:06 into the third period with a tally from Skinner. After a nice play by Thompson to hesitate slightly with the puck, he found Skinner in the slot, and the winger caught Primeau out of position for his 12th goal of the season.
Just 5:30 later, the Sabres evened the score at 2-2 with the captain coming up in the clutch.
After defenseman Connor Clifton jumps up on the play to create a scoring chance, Kyle Okposo was on the rebound in front of Primeau, and he manages to tuck the puck past the blocker of the Canadiens goalie for his fourth goal of the season.
Then nearing the halfway point of the third period, the Canadiens were able to generate a 2-on-1 rush back into the Buffalo zone between Suzuki and winger Cole Caufield. Suzuki fed Caufield with a perfect pass for the scoring chance, but Levi was able to get across for a spectacular save.
With 1:05 to go in regulation, the Sabres were given another chance with the man advantage, as Canadiens center Christian Dvorak went to the penalty box for tripping Skinner in the Montreal end. However, Buffalo could not capitalize on the 5-on-4 chance, and the game needed overtime to determine a winner.
For a couple of rounds in the shootout, the Sabres and Canadiens traded goals with Victor Olofsson and Owen Power scoring for Buffalo, followed by responses from Caufield and Jesse Ylonen for Montreal.
After a stop from Primeau on JJ Peterka to start Round 4, second-year winger Juraj Slafkovsky ended the game in the bottom half, as he was able to slide a puck past the left leg of Levi to earn the extra point for the Canadiens.
Follow along with all the game action below:
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
MTL: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
MTL: 12:59 - Jayden Struble (1) (Johnathan Kovacevic); 13:13 - Nick Suzuki (8) PPG (Mike Matheson, Sean Monahan)
Third Period:
BUF: 1:06 - Jeff Skinner (12) (Tage Thompson); 6:36 - Kyle Okposo (4) (Connor Clifton)
MTL: NONE
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
MTL: NONE
Shootout:
BUF: Thompson - Save
MTL: Suzuki - Save
BUF: Olofsson - GOAL
MTL: Caufield - GOAL
BUF: Power - GOAL
MTL: Ylonen - GOAL
BUF: Peterka - Save
MTL: Slafkovsky - GOAL
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Cayden Primeau - MTL
2.) Devon Levi - BUF
3.) Jeff Skinner - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres will close out a run of four home games in five contests on Monday night when they host the Arizona Coyotes at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. EST on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550 - with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. EST with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.