Ann 2Game 52 Review: Sabres Down Canadiens 3-2 (Highlights Video Included)
February 9th 2009 04:21
O'Byrne gets crushed by Kaleta
The first period was everything expected of the Canadiens' play this season. Limiting the Sabres to only five shots, the Habs buzzed in the home team's defensive zone, peppering Ryan Miller with shots from all angles. Coming off from a shutout against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Miller stood tall and stopped every single one of Montreal's fifteen shots.
The excellent, but scoreless, first period showed that the Canadiens could easily dominate a team if they put enough effort into it. They looked ready to build on those twenty minutes, but a soft goal conceded by Price less than thirty seconds into the second period broke their resolve. It took a powerplay halfway through the period for the Canadiens to tie the game via Saku Koivu. Two minutes later, Nathan Paestch gave the lead back to Buffalo. The goal was the result of awful defensive zone coverage by the Canadiens' skaters, but mostly by Bouillon who didn't stick to his man.
A fluke goal early in third period relieved some pressure off of the Sabres' shoulders who led 3-1. Roman Hamrlik (from a great pass by Sergei Kostitsyn) would give a fighting chance to the Canadiens with four minutes to go but it was too little too late. Again, Kovalev took two lazy penalties which took away Montreal's momentum in the third period. His second penalty hurt the team most. With two minutes left to go, the Russian was penalized for tripping, effectively killing any chance the Habs had to score the equalizer.
At the end of it all, it was simply a question of goaltending. Ryan Miller was better than Carey Price period. Indeed, if it wasn't for the Sabres' netminder, the Canadiens could have returned to their locker-room with a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Instead, they found themselves down 3-1 at the start of the third. The win puts Buffalo only three points behind Montreal who will have a tough time next week on their Western road trip.
My 3 Stars:
3. Roman Hamrlik
2. Tim Connolly
1. Ryan Miller
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