The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, a rematch of their tightly-contested playoff series last season.
Given that he had a perfect game versus the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, rookie Jacob Fowler was given his third consecutive start, though it should be noted that the Habs are scheduled for back-to-back games, and Jakub Dobes is set to face the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
The Canadiens outshot the Sabres by a wide margin, 38-17, but the game required a shootout to decide the winner, just as it did the last time the Habs played. In the end, the Canadiens emerged with a 4-3 shootout win.
Let’s dive into the highlights!
Making It Happen
While Montreal’s penalty kill has been excellent this season, likely due to the addition of Derek Lalonde to the coaching staff, their powerplay has been anything but.
It’s not that they’re failing to score, though that’s obviously not ideal, but they’re not even creating many high-danger scoring chances. Heading into Tuesday’s game, they had a lower expected goals percentage than any other team in the league.
Lane Hutson decided to flip the script, scoring late in the second period with a perfectly placed shot as the Habs enjoyed a two-man advantage.
Lane Hutson takes matters into his own hands and scores on the powerplay to tie the game. 1-1 #GoHabsGo Great work by Danault on the faceoff/traffic. https://t.co/Y7fjMnFJJt
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 13, 2026
Usual Suspect
The Canadiens established a one-goal lead early in the second period, thanks to American sniper, Cole Caufield, who scored his third of the year. It was an excellent play, featuring all three players on the first line, as Juraj Slafkovsky and captain Nick Suzuki provided the assists.
Caufield loves playing the Sabres, as evidenced by his 11 goals and seven assists in 19 career games versus Buffalo.
Cole Caufield with a nice give-and-go, scores his 3rd of the year. Assists to Slafkovsky and Suzuki. 2-1 #GoHabsGo https://t.co/05PTsLeatN
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 13, 2026
Just Hutson Things
The Canadiens generally struggle in the second period, but that was not the case versus the Sabres. They scored two goals, but more importantly, they didn’t allow their opponents to have an endless stream of high-danger chances, leaving their goaltender out to dry in the process.
There were times when Buffalo could have taken advantage of poor line changes, but players such as Adam Engstrom stepped up when they were needed most.
Adam Engstrom saves the #GoHabsGo after a bad line change, disrupting the 2v1 thanks to his excellent skating and good stick work. #GoHabsGo https://t.co/6sduJtFPaF
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 14, 2026
The Habs doubled their lead late in the third period, thanks to yet another spectacular play by Hutson. It’s starting to become a common occurrence in Montreal, almost every game features four or five ridiculous plays via Hutson, but that should not remove any shine from his excellence. It’s similar to Connor McDavid in Edmonton in that sense, or Carey Price of yesteryear.
On that note, his play that set up Josh Anderson’s goal was the epitome of creating time and space for teammates, as Hutson attracted every single defending player his way before his perfect backhand feed. The goal put a rather fine point on Montreal’s best second period of the season.
What a play by Lane Hutson! He sets up Josh Anderson perfectly for his 2nd goal of the year. #GoHabsGo up 3-1. https://t.co/zPGpZ8G1SJ
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 14, 2026
3rd Period Replacing The Second
Rather than collapsing in the second period, the Habs decided to push their decline back a little, allowing the Sabres to score two goals in a little over a minute to start the third period.
It should be noted the Sabres played on Monday, and then travelled, therefore the Canadiens were facing a tired club. Perhaps they took their opponents too lightly, but regardless, their lack of focus came back to bite them once again.
And just like that, it’s 3-3. The Sabres score twice to start the third period. https://t.co/aSfJo5otRh
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 14, 2026
Shootout
All three Canadiens shooters scored, starting with Caufield, followed by Alexandre Texier, and completed by Zachary Bolduc, his second shootout goal in as many games.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a crucial win for the Canadiens versus an Atlantic Division rival.
Cole Caufield scores in the shootout: https://t.co/ynWqFj5aSA
— Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) October 14, 2026
The Montreal Canadiens will be back in action on Wednesday, facing the Capitals in Washington. The puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET.
All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.
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