Canadiens strike three times in third period to defeat Sabres

Juraj Slafkovsky broke a tie in the third period to help the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 win against the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

Oliver Kapanen, Lane Hutson and Jake Evans scored for the Canadiens, who have won five of six. Jakub Dobes made 29 saves.

Jiri Kulich and Tyson Kozak scored, and Alex Lyon made 27 saves for the Sabres, who had won two in a row.

Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead 2-1 at 2:57 of the third. Nick Suzuki spotted Noah Dobson jumping up from the blue line, and Dobson took it to below the goal line, drawing Lyon to him. With the goalie out of position, he slid a feed to Slafkovsky on the doorstep in front for the tap-in into the open net.

Hutson made it 3-1 at 11:38 when he took a pass from Alex Newhook in the slot and fired a wrist shot that trickled through Lyon.

Kozak was on the back door to receive a feed from Jack Quinn and deposit it into the net, cutting it to 3-2 at 12:30.

Evans scored an empty-net goal at 19:29 for the final margin.

Kapanen gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 8:29 of the first period. Buffalo struggled to get the puck out of the zone at the blue line by their bench, and Alexandre Carrier kicked it over to Alex Newhook, who quickly dished to Ivan Demidov. The rookie then slipped a backhand feed into the slot, and Kapanen collected it and slid a backhand under Lyon's pads.

The Sabres struggled to get through active sticks by the Canadiens, who kept the pressure on and outshot Buffalo 14-6 in the opening frame.

But the visitors got back on track and pushed in the second as they outshot Montreal 11-4.

Kulich tied it 1-1 at 6:51 of the second. He won a puck battle along the wall and chipped it forward for himself before sending it over to Zach Benson, who then left a short drop pass for Kulich in the left circle. Kulich kicked the rolling puck to his stick, cut to the slot and put a backhand past Dobes' glove.

--Field Level Media