Cowan: Young, hungry and confident Canadiens beat Sabres 5-1 in Game 2
For the second straight season, the Canadiens are the youngest team in the NHL playoffs.
Young and hungry is the way defenceman Kaiden Guhle put it before their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which the Canadiens won in seven games.
The Canadiens are now young, hungry and confident.
They showed that with a 5-1 win over the Sabres in Game 2 of their second-round series Friday night in Buffalo after losing Game 1 by a 4-2 score. Alex Newhook scored twice for the Canadiens, while Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Nick Suzuki (empty-netter) added singles.
Game 3 will be Sunday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports) with the Canadiens now holding home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series. But that doesn’t really seem to matter to this young, confident team, which is now 4-2 on the road in these playoffs.
The Canadiens are also 4-0 after a loss in these playoffs and goalie Jakub Dobes has a 1.49 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage in those four games.
After losing Game 6 in the first round 1-0 in overtime at the Bell Centre, Jake Evans spoke about how the Canadiens were still confident.
“They’ve been a top team for a long time and a Stanley Cup contender for a long time,” Evans said about the Lightning. “We’re up and coming, but I feel like we’re just as good and can win this series.”
The Canadiens did that, beating the Lightning 2-1 in Tampa in Game 7.
Evans remained confident heading into Game 2 against the Sabres.
“There’s that belief in this room that we can beat any team,” Evans told reporters in Buffalo on Friday morning. “So take the positives (from Game 1), improve on those details and those negatives and move forward.
“The confidence is definitely not low right now,” Evans added. “We definitely believe in each other.”
The Canadiens showed that by jumping out to a 2-0 lead 4:27 into Game 2 on goals by Newhook and Matheson.
After allowing four goals on 16 shots in Game 1, Dobes stopped 29 of 30 shots in Game 2, improving his playoff GAA to 2.14 and his save percentage to .917.
The Sabres are the second-youngest team in the playoffs and are bigger and faster than the Lightning. They seemed to catch the Canadiens off guard in Game 1, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Canadiens adjusted well in Game 2.
“Buffalo’s a really good team,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis told reporters in Buffalo ahead of Game 2. “If you look at what they’ve done December on, I guess, it’s pretty impressive. But I can’t say that I learned anything (about them from Game 1). I will tell you that I know we can play with them. We’re just going to have to do some things a bit better.
“I’m confident that we can play any style,” St. Louis added. “I’m confident that we can play the game that’s in front of us. And I’m confident that we can learn from (Game 1) and be better.”
There was a hat trick of confidents in that quote and the Canadiens were, indeed, much better in Game 2.
The Sabres outhit the Canadiens 44-18 — led by 6-foot-4, 229-pound defenceman Mattias Samuelsson with 10 — but it didn’t faze them.
Phillip Danault showed why GM Kent Hughes gave up a second-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft to get him from the Los Angeles Kings in December, winning 10 of 15 faceoffs, picking up an assist and finishing plus-3 while logging 14:33 of ice time. Danault’s clean faceoff win led directly to Matheson’s first-period goal.
The Canadiens limited Tage Thompson, the Sabres’ leading goal-scorer during the regular season with 40, to one shot and the 6-foot-6, 220-pound centre was minus-4.
The Canadiens continue to win despite getting only one goal in nine playoff games (on the power play in Game 4 against the Lightning) from Cole Caufield, who scored 51 during the regular season. Caufield had two shots Friday night and rang one off the post in the third period.
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Before the playoffs started, Guhle kept describing the Canadiens as young and hungry and I asked him if the team had made up T-shirts with that written on them.
“No, I just came up with it right now,” he said with a chuckle.
The Canadiens could now make T-shirts saying: “Young, Hungry and Confident.”
Before Game 2, Guhle noted the Sabres are also a young and hungry team.
“I think we both have similarities in that,” he said. “Both got something to prove. They haven’t been in the playoffs in a long time (since 2011) and they had a great season this year and they got something to prove to themselves, I’m sure, and to the league. I think it will be a good series.”
What are the Canadiens looking to prove in this series?
“That we’re here,” Guhle said. “Rebuild and whatever you say, I think, obviously, it’s going well so far. I think we have something to prove. I think we don’t want to just be a team that wins a round or two and then you get booted every year. I think we want to prove that we’re here right now and want to show the league and the world that.”
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