In the sweep of the NHL schedule from Friday, we start in Montreal where just when things were looking up the Canadiens were cut down to size by the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4.
Marcus Foligno led the way with two goals and three points on the night.
“I felt really engaged,” Foligno said. “I felt that we, and myself, needed an answer 
after last night’s game [a 5-1 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers] and I just felt that as a team we needed to bring it. This is a Montreal team that we’ve been playing well against and they’re struggling too. It was a tough game, 6-4, you don’t want to give up that many goals, but it was definitely a good win for us.”
One of those goals was on a penalty shot resulting from a hooking call on a breakaway.
“We were kind of guessing on the bench what Marcus was going to do,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “In practice sometimes, he likes to put on a nice deke move. He came in the showed the shot, which was a great shot coming in, going over his glove.”
Evander Kane also had two goals in the win and David Legwand and Josh Gorges added scores.
Ben Scrivens was chased from Habs net early in the second after yielding three goals on eight shots.
“It was a tough night for the goalies,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “A tough night.”
In Glendale, the Coyotes’ Shane Doan scored two goals and added an assist as he became the club’s leading point-scorer in history.
“This was a big game, so to [get the records] and win a game like this is special,” said Doan, who has 21 goals in 45 games at age 39. “Tip kind of gave it to us as leaders and said we had to be good. We had to find a way to win this one. Our young guys have been great for us all year and the leaders have to step up, especially this time of year.”
The Coyotes beat the visiting Calgary Flames, 4-1.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Duclair also scored for the Coyotes.
“We couldn’t match their energy,” said Calgary coach Bob Hartley, whose team won 6-5 in a shootout at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. “The first goal put us right on our heels and we just couldn’t gain their blue line. Their defensemen controlled the entire game. We turned the puck over quite a few times and just lost momentum.”
Louis Domingue made 26 saves for his 10th win this season.
“We wanted to have the perfect road trip here,” Calgary forward Josh Jooris said. “We pride ourselves on being a disciplined team, and these past couple of games we’ve gotten away from that. We’re better when we’re even strength and keeping the flow of the game.”
Joe Colborne was the lone Flames scorer on the night.
In Sunrise, the visiting St Louis Blues defeated the Panthers, 5-3.
The return of Jaden Schwartz sparked the Blues; he scored once and added an assist.
“I felt pretty good,” Schwartz said. “I tried not to think about it too much, just go out there and play, move my feet early, try to get in the game as quick as I could. The adrenaline was going too. Overall, I felt a little bit better than I thought I would.
“I didn’t know what to expect, so it went well,” Schwartz said. “It was fun being a part of the team again and contributing.”
Vladimir Tarasenko, David Backes, Robby Fabbri, and Alexander Steen also scored for the Blues.
“They were faster, quicker on every loose puck in the first period,” Florida’s Jaromir Jagr said. “After that, I thought we started putting the pucks in the zone and creating more scoring chances and scored some goals. We had a bad start, but in the second half of the game I thought we were fine.”
Brian Elliott got the win on the strength of 28 saves.
“We gave up one early on a bad rebound by me, but we responded really well,” Elliott said. “We just kept to our game plan and they kept going in. Having Schwartz back and him getting a goal right away, it’s pretty cool.”
Jonathan Huberdeau, Derek MacKenzie and Aaron Ekblad scored for the Panthers.
“We were not as sharp as we were the past few games,” Huberdeau said. “I think tomorrow we’ve got to come back and be better defensively. That’s usually where we’re good at. Tonight we allowed too many odd-man rushes.”
Roberto Luongo started the game but was pulled after 20 minutes, allowing three goals on 13 shots. He was replaced Al Montoya.
“It was just to shake up the team,” Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. “[Roberto’s] been a horse all year long. It was just to shake up the team; we weren’t happy with how we were playing. It actually worked a little bit in the second.”
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