NHL: Canadiens clobber Sabres in Game 3, grab series lead

Cole Caufield broke a five-game scoring drought with a tiebreaking power-play goal as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the visiting Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in Game 3 on Sunday night, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

A 51-goal scorer during the regular season, Cole Caufield also added an assist in the win. He had not scored since Game 5 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Alex Newhook scored twice, while Juraj Slafkovsky recorded his fourth postseason power-play goal. Zachary Bolduc and Kirby Dach also found the net for Montreal. Lane Hutson contributed two assists, and Jakub Dobes made 26 saves in the victory.

“He does his job every night and every day,” Caufield said of Dobes in a Sportsnet interview. “I couldn’t be more proud of a guy like that. … He’s a special player.”

For Buffalo, Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin each finished with a goal and an assist, while Alex Lyon stopped 31 shots in the loss.

Thompson, who called his Game 2 performance an “absolute disaster,” opened the scoring just 53 seconds into Game 3. The goal came after Dobes ventured far out of his crease to challenge a Dahlin shot that missed wide and bounced off the end boards. Thompson collected the rebound and scored into an open net.

Newhook responded at 15:31 of the first period, tying the game after his shot deflected off Buffalo defenseman Conor Timmins.

Caufield missed a close-range opportunity early in the second period on the power play, but made up for it at 6:05, finishing a setup from Hutson to give Montreal a 2-1 lead.

“We have to be smarter,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. “We took five offensive zone penalties. Our discipline wasn’t good enough.”

Montreal extended its lead to 3-1 when Bolduc scored at 10:43 after a pass from Joe Veleno. Moments later, Slafkovsky converted another power-play chance at 12:17 following an interference penalty by Buffalo’s Beck Malenstyn.

Dahlin answered quickly on the power play at 14:46 after Dach was called for holding Josh Doan’s stick.

Buffalo attempted to rally in the third period, but Montreal restored control when Dach finished a 2-on-1 rush at 8:46 to make it 5-2.

“Our puck play still isn’t where I’d like it to be,” Ruff said. “Montreal is a good team. They made us pay for our mistakes.”

Newhook sealed the win at 15:14, scoring his second of the night after being fouled on a breakaway toward an empty net.

-Field Level Media/Reuters