The Montreal Canadiens dominated the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup Sunday night, seizing a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series behind a breakthrough performance from Cole Caufield.
Caufield snapped a five-game goal drought by netting the decisive power-play score, marking his first goal since Game 5 of the opening round series against Tampa Bay Lightning. The regular season’s 51-goal scorer also contributed an assist in the victory.
Alex Newhook found the back of the net twice, while Juraj Slafkovsky added his fourth playoff power-play goal. Zachary Bolduc and Kirby Dach rounded out Montreal’s scoring, with Lane Hutson providing two assists and goaltender Jakub Dobes turning away 26 shots.
“He does his job every night and every day,” Caufield said about Dobes in a Sportsnet interview. “I couldn’t be more proud of a guy like that. … Again, a special player.”
For Buffalo, Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin each recorded one goal and one assist, while Alex Lyon made 31 saves in the losing effort.
Thompson, who called his Game 2 showing an “absolute disaster,” silenced the home crowd early when he capitalized on a fortunate bounce. After Dobes ventured out to challenge Dahlin’s shot that sailed wide and ricocheted off the end boards, Thompson pounced on the rebound and scored into an open net just 53 seconds into the game.
Montreal answered when Newhook evened the score at 15:31 of the first period, deflecting a shot off Buffalo defenseman Conor Timmins to tie the contest at 1-1.
Despite missing an easy scoring chance earlier in the second period, Caufield redeemed himself when Hutson worked through the left circle during a power play and set up Caufield for the go-ahead goal at 6:05, putting Montreal ahead 2-1.
“We have to be smarter,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We took five (offensive) zone penalties. Our discipline for that wasn’t good enough. You let them operate 5-on-4 and we end up with a broken stick. You give them that much time and they’re going to get opportunities.”
Montreal’s fourth line extended the lead to 3-1 when Joe Veleno set up Bolduc with a pass, and Bolduc beat Lyon at 10:43 of the second period.
Following Beck Malenstyn’s interference penalty for a collision with Dobes, the Canadiens capitalized again on the power play. Hutson threaded a pass through the slot that deflected off Slafkovsky at 12:17, making it 4-1.
Dahlin responded quickly for Buffalo, scoring on the man advantage just 16 seconds after Dach was whistled for holding Josh Doan’s stick at 14:30.
Despite Buffalo mounting pressure with a strong power play and continued momentum in the third period, Montreal countered with a 2-on-1 break that resulted in Dach’s fourth playoff goal at 8:46, extending the lead to 5-2.
“Our puck play still isn’t to a level where I’d like it,” Ruff said. “… Montreal’s a good team. They made us pay for our mistakes.”
Newhook sealed the victory with his fifth postseason goal, awarded after being fouled on a breakaway toward an empty net at 15:14.
