It’s hard to describe the Buffalo Sabres’ victory against the Montreal Canadiens as anything more than the inevitable byproduct of the principle that, if a team plays enough games, eventually they’ll win one. For Buffalo, that victory came tonight and that fact has to be frustrating for Montreal, which conceded an important two points in the 3-2 loss.
It’s not just the fact that the Canadiens lost to the absolute worst team in the NHL that should get under their skin. Or the fact that Montreal has now lost to Buffalo three times in four games this season, which is 20% of the Sabres’ total wins. It’s that Montreal was coming off of a 3-2 loss against the similarly lowly Arizona Coyotes and followed that up by surrendering three goals in the first 20 minutes tonight.
The Canadiens went on to outshot Buffalo 26-11 for the final two periods, but Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth stood tall in his first victory since Dec. 27.
What looked like a favorable four-game homestand for the Canadiens has gone sour. They now have to win against New Jersey on Saturday just to break even.
Given that just a point separated first and third place in the Atlantic Division going into Tuesday’s action, squandering those potential four points against Arizona and Buffalo could prove to be costly. On the plus side though, the Canadiens won’t play against the Sabres again this season, so at least they can’t be a thorn in their side any longer.
"I have nothing to say" - Andrei Markov. Says it all, really.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) February 4, 2015
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