The Montreal Canadiens scored three unanswered goals in the second period, taking the lead 5-3 over the Buffalo Sabres from the KeyBank Center in Game 5 through 40 minutes.
Early on, Buffalo had one of their best chances of the period, as Tage Thompson was sent in on a breakaway. The 6-foot-6 forward tried to pull off a patient move, but Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes shut the door, as he would for the rest of the frame.
The teams went back and forth with no goals coming in the first eight minutes of the second, a far cry from the four goals potted early in period No. 1.
Not long after, however, Montreal’s Lane Hutson carried the puck down low and sent a pass cross-crease to the tape of Josh Anderson, who found the back of the net for his fourth of the playoffs to equalize the score at three.
The first power play of the game came 13 minutes into the second, as a high-sticking penalty committed by Juraj Slafkovsky sent Buffalo to the advantage.
The Canadiens killed it, and four minutes later were able to take the lead. A shot from forward Ivan Demidov squeaked through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and settled on the goal line, before Jake Evans batted the puck in to take a 4-3 lead.
Montreal then got their own power play moments later, and capitalized. Habs captain Nick Suzuki lit the lamp to end Montreal’s second period barrage, taking a 5-3 lead into the second intermission.
In the first period, the goals came fast and furious, as it was the home team striking first.
Two minutes into the contest, a shot by Buffalo’s Jack Quinn from the top of the circle deflected off Jason Zucker and found its way past Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes to open the scoring.
Less than five minutes later, however, a defensive zone giveaway by the Sabres’ Conor Timmins led to Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki scooping up the puck and setting up 50-goal scorer Cole Caufield to tie it.
The goals just kept on coming, as just over a minute later, Buffalo answered. Defenceman Owen Power connected with Josh Doan on the point-to-point one timer, beating Dobes low blocker to regain the lead.
Just nine seconds later, however, Montreal responded once again. A shot from the point by Alexandre Carrier deflected off Alexandre Texier’s skate, getting by Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to once again knot things up.
Just over two minutes later, the lamp was lit once again. Sabres forward Konsta Helenius beat Dobes five-hole off the rush for his first career playoff goal, as the Sabres rattled off three goals on four shots in virtually the first 10 minutes.
