There was only one NHL game on Monday night. It was between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres. These are two young teams that have bright futures but have had a rough go of it in recent years. Now, they are trying to continue their development this year.
Most would say the Buffalo Sabres are far ahead of the Montreal Canadiens right now but that doesn’t always result in head-to-head wins. Sometimes, goaltenders impact games in different ways as well.
That was the case on Monday night. The Sabres outshot the Canadiens 37-27 but they lost the game 3-1. Jake Allen made 36 saves on those 37 shots and was the difference in the game. It was a fantastic performance by him.
Justin Barron was the first to provide Allen with goal support as he scored his first of the year. It wasn’t long after that, however, that Buffalo tied it as Jeff Skinner scored a power-play goal from a crazy angle. From there, Allen would be perfect.
The Montreal Canadiens pulled out a very nice win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Brendan Gallagher and Tanner Pearson each added goals later on to give the Canadiens the win. It was a great way for them to show their stuff and get an impressive win with the whole hockey world watching them.
Each team is going to try and be competitive this season but we will see who has it in them to stay in the race the longest. If Buffalo keeps putting 37 on the net every game, chances are they’ll win more often than not.
These two teams will meet three more times this year with the next coming on December 8th. It should be a fun matchup all season long. We’ll know a lot more about the state of each team at that point in time.
On Tuesday, both of these teams kind of got the short end of the stick. All 32 teams are playing but they are the only two playing the second half of a back-to-back. This is going to be a great night in the NHL but these two teams have their backs against the wall to start.
Buffalo is going to be in Canada’s capital visiting the Ottawa Senators while Montreal will be hosting the New Jersey Devils. It should be a ton of fun as each of them will look for good vibes against some outstanding teams.