It was a night of celebration at the Bell Centre as Youppi! welcomed mascots from around the league. And the Canadiens provided them and the fans with reasons to cheer and celebrate, destroying a rather fragile Buffalo Sabres team 6-1. Joel Armia set the tone just 0:19 seconds into the game and the Habs never looked back.
Laine led the charge with the Pat-Trik, all three goals on the power play. Okay, it’s cheesy, but I’ve been waiting all year to use that!
In spite of his 3 goals, Patrik Laine has much higher expectations of himself. He had this to say after the game: “I think overall, at least for myself, it was kind of an average game. If you take away the goals, I’ve had a million times better games than that & had zero goals. On the power play, it went in. Outside of that, I would call it a pretty average performance for myself today…”
Meanwhile, Patrik Laine is… 4 goals back of Auston Matthews. And he's only played 7 games this season! 😉 #GoHabsGo #Habs #LeafsForever #Leafs
— JD Lagrange (@jdlagrange.bsky.social) 2024-12-18T02:51:00.560Z
Juraj Slafkovsky with a goal and an assist.
Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and rookie sensation Lane Hutson, all with two assists.
Josh Anderson scored a goal in a second consecutive game. He is a transformed player this year, as is his linesman Brendan Gallagher.
Kirby Dach left the game for a while after taking a cheap shot hit (that wasn’t called) while he did not have the puck. He fell rather awkwardly but ended up returning.
Dach finished the night with 3 shots on goal and 2 blocked shots. Somehow managed to finish with a minus-1 differential. He’s now minus-22 on the season.
Speaking of +/-, the highest on the Habs last night was plus-1. In fact, 13 players finished the night at plus-1.
Most ice time amongst forwards? None other than… Christian Dvorak (17:57). Next? Josh Anderson (16:17).
Nick Suzuki had a season low 14:32 of ice time. He only played 16:17 against Winnipeg. He averages 19:26 this season.
What is the VP of Hockey Operations of the #STLBlues doing in Montreal? Must be to watch the mascots… #GoHabsGo #Habs
— JD Lagrange (@jdlagrange.bsky.social) 2024-12-17T23:44:15.353Z
Most ice time amongst defensemen? No surprise, with Mike Matheson (24:40) leading the charge. Second? None other than Arber Xhekaj (20:18) and close behind, Kaiden Guhle (20:15). Hutson came fourth at 18:30.
Kaiden Guhle blocked 7 shots and Mike Matheson with 4. In all, the Habs blocked 23 Sabres’ shots to protect their goaltender.
Sam Montembeault wasn’t really tested, stopping 20 of 21 shots, most coming from a safe distance and the defensemen doing a good job clearing rebounds.
Laine and Matheson led the team with 5 shots each. The rest of the team had 17 combined.
The Canadiens still struggled in the faceoffs’ circle as the Sabres won 51.8% of the draws.
Thanks to Laine, the power play finished at 50% (3 for 6). The team successfully killed all 5 penalties against them, including a 5 on 3.
Montreal got out-hit 26-7! That’s a bit of a surprise, wouldn’t you say?
With the win, the Canadiens have leap-frogged the Sabres and are no longer last in the Eastern Conference. They are only one point back of the Detroit Red Wings.
When the team scores 5 goals, fans can get free wings. Having scored 6 against the Sabres, did they get Buffalo wings?
Speaking of wings, the Habs will be facing the Detroit Red Wings on Friday and Saturday, in a home-and-home series.
