Buffalo Sabres vs Montréal Canadiens — Recap

📰Game Recap

Montréal rallied from an early deficit to defeat Buffalo 4-3 in an overtime shootout Tuesday. The Canadiens secured the victory despite a strong third-period push from the Sabres. SportsFBI's model had favored Montréal at 56% for the matchup.

Buffalo initially took the lead in the first period, with Josh Norris scoring at 8:21 on an assist from Konsta Helenius. Montréal responded quickly, however. Zachary Bolduc tied the game at 11:45 with assists from Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovský, before Cole Caufield netted his first goal of the night at 14:01, assisted by Juraj Slafkovský and Alexandre Carrier, to give the Canadiens a 2-1 advantage.

Montréal extended its lead in the second period when Alexandre Texier scored at 7:39, with Kaiden Guhle and Alexandre Carrier assisting, making it 3-1. Buffalo countered just over two minutes later, as Jack Quinn found the back of the net at 9:52, assisted by Zach Benson and Mattias Samuelsson, to narrow the deficit to one. The Sabres then forced overtime at 10:12 of the third period, with Tage Thompson scoring to tie the game at 3, assisted by Josh Doan and Jiri Kulich. Montréal outshot Buffalo 34-26 through the contest.

The game remained deadlocked through the five-minute overtime period, with neither team scoring. Montréal ultimately secured the 4-3 victory in the ensuing shootout. Jacob Fowler made 23 saves on 26 shots to earn the win for the Canadiens, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 of 34 shots for Buffalo, taking the overtime loss. Following the game, Montréal's record stands at 3-3-1, while Buffalo's moves to 4-3-1.