Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Buffalo ‘we are like, totally better than the Rangers and the Islanders. We promise!’ Sabres
TopShelf’s completely Professional GameReport:
Thomas Vanek scored twice for the Buffalo Sabres but it wasn’t enough as his team was overturned by another Montreal Canadiens comeback.
In this, the first of 7 straight home games – the longest homestand for the Habs this year – Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist to help his slumping team avoid a second straight defeat.
Buffalo started the brighter of the two sides, and they went ahead when the aforementioned Vanek opened the scoring 13 minutes into the first period. Chris Higgins’ attempt to clear the puck at his own blue-line wasn’t secessfull, which allowed Clarke MacArthur to get it to Vanek behind the Montreal defence. Vanek put the puck between his own legs and lifted it past Carey Price for his 16th goal of the season.
That was all she wrote for the opening 20, and both teams headed for the locker rooms with the Sabres surely feeling good about their chances.
But the tide quickly changed in the middle period when Andrei Kostitsyn took advantage of a defensive giveaway to tie the game with his 4th of the season. Luck was on the young winger’s side – he misfired his first attempt, continued with the puck and managed to get the backhand past Lalime in the Buffalo net.
Five minutes later though, Vanek came back to haunt the Canadiens again when he struck with his second of the game and 17th of the year. A Josh Gorges give-away in the Habs’ zone allowed Drew Stafford to give the puck to Vanek across the crease who made no mistake with his backhand.
Montreal wasn’t about to back down without a fight for the second night in a row however, and Maxim Lapierre and Steve Begin combined their efforts to put their team on level terms. Lapierre’s pass was one-timed by Begin and the capacity crowd of 21,273 was celebrating once again.
The most beautiful goal of the night was scored with just 90 seconds left on the clock before the buzzer was to go off. While Matt D’Agostini and Derek Roy were sitting in the penalty box serving two-minute minors, Andrei Markov and Saku Koivu took advantage of the extra space on the ice due to the 4 on 4.
Markov passed the puck to the captain behind the Buffalo net and then headed for the net, and Koivu served a sensational pass on a golden platter to the defenseman who had no trouble beating Lalime to give his team their first lead of the contest.
Despite added Buffalo pressure in the third period, including a sustained attack in the final minute of the game, Montreal managed to hold on to win a second game in their last 3 outings.
TopShelf’s notes o’ da day:
-What a first goal by Vanek! Holy boobs man, BETWEEN DAH LEGZ! RIGHT WHERE MAMA HIDES THE COOKIE JAR!
-People are seriously jumping on Dandenault’s back for having a less than impressive game? The guy hasn’t played at D in a year. Give me a b-r-e-a-k. C’est une pause en Francais ca!
-Lapierre and Begin should be cloned. Have they perfected that shit yet? COME ON MAN! THE JAPANESE ARE ON OUR ASSES!
-Seeing Komisarek behind the bench was weird. It was almost as weird as a U2 video. OH YEAH I JUST SAID IT! WHAT!? YOU WANT A PIECE?!?
-Sergei Kostitsyn has anger issues man. It’s fine when he’s breaking Bryan McCabe’s wrist, but stop taking stupid penalties.
-I was glad to see D’Agostini get decent icetime – especially on the powerplay.
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