In Buffalo, the Sabres stumbled to a 3-1 loss to the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.
Jake Allen made 36 saves to backstop the Canadiens win.
“I think I’m just trying to get a little bit better every time right now,” Allen said. “That’s my mantra, that’s my goal. It’s not going to be perfect all the time, but I’ll try to keep this rolling. We’re at a point right now in the schedule where we’re a bit more fresh, so we’re trying to take advantage of this time. … Tonight was a big win, [found] a way to come here after another big, emotional win the other night (3-2 against the Washington Capitals). To get back on the horse sometimes isn’t easy, but I was impressed with the group. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done.”
Justin Barron scored from the right circle of a rebound with less than three minutes gone in the first period to give the Habs a 1-0 lead.
The rebound came off a save on a shot fro the left point.
“I thought their goaltender played real well tonight,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “I would say that we didn’t get to the net with enough conviction, enough conviction and determination. That was for me pretty evident, I guess. We generated chances. I think we had 11 power-play shots. I thought the power play actually did some decent things and didn’t score, but 5-on-5 we didn’t get to the net enough. … That was the challenge tonight.”
The Sabres got on the board at 7:13 of the first on a strike by Jeff Skinner, the puck glanced in off the crossbar with Skinner floating near the goal line on the right side.
The goal came off the power play.
After a scoreless middle frame, Brendan Gallagher scored off a loose puck in the crease to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 3:31.
“I’m playing with two guys that make it really easy. Really comfortable playing with them,” Gallagher said of his line with Pearson and Sean Monahan. “The line seems to be working right now, and I’m healthy. It’s one of those things where you just hope it keeps going.”
Tanner Pearson scored off the power play with 3:07 left in the third. The goal came off a touch pass from Gallagher below the goal line on the left side.
Eric Comrie made 24 saves in the loss.
“It’s frustrating, but I think as soon as you let frustration set in, negativity, you’re never going to get out of it,” Buffalo forward Tage Thompson said. “I think goals come in waves. I think a lot of times they come, like I said, in waves and you get streaky. You’ve just got to do the right things every shift. I thought tonight we did. Obviously, that’s why that one hurts so much. But we can’t change anything. We got to play like that.
“That’s two games we’ve strung together in a row now that I think we took away the will of the other team, had them kind of defeated mentally. And obviously, they get one in the third there, it gives them some life. But we keep playing like that, that’s a winning recipe. We’re going to win a lot of games playing like that.”
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