Montreal, Quebec (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It's the second of three January meetings between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. The blue and gold trail Montreal by four points for third place in the Atlantic Division.
The Sabres made a statement inside the first minute of the game. Jack Quinn gathered a pass from Ryan McLeod, flew through the neutral zone and dished off to Jason Zucker for a quick one-timer with the night just 44-seconds old.
With about five-minutes left in the opening frame, the Sabres doubled the lead. At the tail end of a penalty kill, Beck Malenstyn worked his way behind the Canadiens' powerplay unit. One power move later, Malenstyn slipped home a short-handed goal; his fourth goal of the season overall.
Buffalo extended its lead to three just 2:22 into the middle stanza. Much like two nights ago in Nashville, the youthful line of Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius made an impact on the scoresheet.
Helenius located Benson situated on the far post, and while not succeeding on his first attempt, Benson batted the puck into the net to make it 3-0 Sabres.
Montreal was able to solve Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen about 90-seconds later, and pull within two goals of the blue and gold. Forward Cole Caufield wired a shot past Luukkonen from between the circles to make it a 3-1 contest inside Bell Centre.
The margin got slimmer at the 11:20 mark of the second. Canadiens forward Zachary Bolduc was gifted a turnover in the slot of the Sabres' defensive end.
Luukkonen was able to save Bolduc's point-blank shot, but lost track of the rebound. Forward Nick Suzuki found it and tapped the puck home, uncontested, to make it a 3-2 affair and force head coach Lindy Ruff to call his timeout.
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SCORING RECAP:
First Period:
BUF: 0:44 - Jason Zucker (11) (Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod); 14:58 - Beck Malenstyn (4) SHG (Mattias Samuelsson)
MTL: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 2:22 - Zach Benson (6) (Konsta Helenius, Noah Ostlund)
MTL: 3:56 - Cole Caufield (26) (Nick Suzuki, Mike Matheson); 11:20 - Nick Suzuki (16) (Zachary Bolduc)
Third Period:
BUF:
MTL:
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Bluestar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
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What's Next:
Game four of the road trip comes at you on Saturday afternoon, January 24 against the New York Islanders. Puck drop at UBS Arena is at 1 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.