Canadiens Highlights: Newhook Clinches The Series

The Montreal Canadiens faced the Buffalo Sabres in Game 7 of their second-round series, hoping to earn yet another exciting, underdog win.

Prior to puck drop, the Habs announced they would make one lineup modification, replacing fourth-line forward Joe Veleno with rookie Oliver Kapanen, who made his series debut.

It was yet another exciting matchup, and the Habs managed to emerge with a 3-2 win, qualifying for the Eastern Conference final in the process.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Veteran Impact

The Canadiens got off to a great start, culminating in Phillip Danault’s first goal of the playoffs. The veteran capitalized on a great forecheck by Josh Anderson, not to mention a very smart pass by defenceman Kaiden Guhle.

At that point in the game, the high-danger scoring chances were already 3-0 in favour of the Habs, and it must be noted that the team was 12-2 when they score first in a Game 7.

Crucial Goals

Depth players continued to play a crucial role in the game, as evidenced by Zachary Bolduc’s third goal of the playoffs. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki provided an excellent assist on the play.

Considering he had an up and down regular-season, Bolduc’s uptick in effort and results throughout the playoffs is more than commendable.

He’s still a very young player with a long career ahead of him. Enjoying a relatively successful playoffs run will go a long way in instilling a certain amount of confidence.

Classic Adversity

One thing that’s quite apparent when analyzing the Canadiens is that they have the ability to be a world-class team.

They can also put together some of the worst hockey you’ll ever see, as was the case through a fairly long stretch in the second period.

The Sabres capitalized when Jordan Greenway found a way to beat Dobes with the help of many of his friends, who were creating havoc in front of the Sabres crease.

The Best Referees On Earth

The Sabres decided to run Dobes, again, and much like the officiating in most of these playoff games, the referees failed to do their job.

It was genuinely an awful job by veteran officials that know better.

And it’s clearly a recurring issue that’s plaguing the league.

Seeing as the referees decided to perform game management, which is exactly what no one wants to see, the Sabres gained the advantage by not having to kill a penalty.

Rasmus Dahlin tied the game shortly thereafter.

Need A Hero

The final 10 minutes of the third period would go a long way in determining whether the Canadiens could truly rise to the occasion, as they did so many times in the regular season, or if they’d let their lack of experience show by blowing yet another lead in an elimination game.

The Habs played scared for the majority of the second and third period, which led to a significant amount of defensive zone time.

You could argue they lacked any semblance of killer instinct.

The good news is that they had an opportunity to win the game with just one more shot, as the teams entered overtime tied at 2-2.

One of the most important players for the Canadiens in the playoffs, Alex Newhook, played the hero role, scoring with just a few minutes left in overtime.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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