Zach Benson etched yet another signature moment in his heroic first playoffs, scoring the deciding goal on a third-period power play to send the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of their second-round series at Bell Centre on Tuesday.
The series is tied 2-2 as it returns to Buffalo for Game 5 on Thursday.
Benson, celebrating his 21st birthday on Tuesday, stopped a pass from Josh Doan with his skate in front of the Montreal net and flicked a backhand shot past goaltender Jakub Dobes to break a 2-2 tie with 15:19 remaining.
Benson has four goals and seven points in these playoffs, including four points in this series against the Canadiens. Doan had two assists on Tuesday and now has helpers in five straight games, the longest such streak by a Sabres player in the playoffs since Tim Connolly in 2006. Doan leads Buffalo with six points in the second round.
Mattias Samuelsson and Tage Thompson also scored goals for the Sabres, who entered Tuesday trailing a series for the first time in these playoffs.
The team made three lineup changes in search of a spark: rookie Konsta Helenius in for his playoff debut at forward, Luke Schenn in for his first game of these playoffs on defense, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in goal for the first time since Game 2 of Round 1.
Luukkonen stopped 28 of 30 shots, helping to fuel a 6-for-7 night for the Buffalo penalty kill. The team rallied in front of him with 27 blocked shots, tied as the second highest total for any team this postseason.
Buffalo was forced to overcome adversity following a strong start to the game. The Sabres dominated the opening eight minutes, taking a 1-0 lead on Samuelsson’s goal and generating lopsided advantages in shot (8-1) and shot attempts (15-3).
Momentum swung completely in favor of Montreal following a lengthy delay that spanned two video reviews at the 8:02 mark. The first review – initiated by the NHL Situation Room – ruled that a drive to the net by Helenius and subsequent put-back attempt by Jack Quinn had been caught by Dobes over the goal line.
The ruling briefly put the Sabres ahead 2-0 – until the Canadiens challenged successfully for goalie interference. That review deemed that Helenius, crossing the blue paint after his initial shot, made contact with Dobes which impeded his ability to make the save.
The tenor of the game changed after the two reviews, which lasted more than 10 minutes in real time. Alex Newhook scored the tying goal less than two minutes later, then the Sabres took three offensive-zone penalties – the last of which led to Cole Caufield’s go-ahead goal with 13 seconds left in the first period.
A favorable bounce led to Thompson’s game-tying goal on the power play, a rim along the offensive-zone boards that took an odd bounce off the corner stanchion and deflected in past Dobes. Thompson finished the night with a goal and an assist.
The Sabres played bend-but-don’t-break hockey from there, including a successful kill on a double-minor penalty against Bowen Byram that stretched into the start of the third period.
