BUFFALO — The Montreal Canadiens have been caught in a recreation of cat-and-mouse in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. Typically they’re the cat, different occasions they’re the mouse.
They’re 4-0 following a loss this postseason, alternating wins and losses by way of their first 9 video games, however have but to string consecutive victories collectively. They wish to change that and change into the feline full-time, starting with Sport 3 of the Jap Convention Second Spherical towards the Buffalo Sabres at Bell Centre on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN), with the best-of-7 collection tied 1-1.
“It takes a little bit of every thing,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis mentioned. “You need to be organized. You need to make changes, however you need to keep disciplined with that. Past that, it takes execution, calmness, and self-discipline. It’s not one factor. There are video games we misplaced that we performed nicely. We now have to stay to the duty at hand.”
Montreal discovered it mandatory to repair its focus after going the complete seven-game distance towards the Tampa Bay Lightning within the first spherical. They performed the deciding recreation of that collection — a 2-1 win at Tampa Bay on Sunday, and had two days earlier than touring to Buffalo for Sport 1 towards the Sabres, a 4-2 loss on Wednesday.
Contemplate that focus adjusted, thanks largely to 24-year-old goalie Jakub Dobes, who has began every of Montreal’s eight video games this postseason.
“I really feel that now we’re into the collection and we are able to give attention to Buffalo,” mentioned Dobes, who’s 5-4 with a 2.14 goals-against common and .917 save share in these playoffs. “I really feel Sport 1 simply did not personally for me felt fascinating; whenever you play seven video games towards a crew that each recreation is a Sport 7, after which the crew that we play proper now’s a very completely different expertise.
“I really feel like we adjusted in the present day very well … and I really feel that we’re able to play our hockey and compete towards the crew for the remainder of the collection.”