Nick Suzuki had two goals and an assist and the Montreal Canadiens won their fourth straight game, blanking the visiting Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Wednesday.
Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who are 4-3-0 under interim coach Martin St. Louis. Sam Montembeault made 32 saves to earn his first NHL shutout.
Craig Anderson made 25 saves for the Sabres, who lost their fourth straight.
Anderson had to be sharp in the first period as Buffalo struggled in the first half of the opening frame with several turnovers. Five minutes into the period, he robbed forward Laurent Dauphin point blank with a pad save and, with just under four minutes to go, denied Caufield with a sprawling stick save.
Suzuki capitalized on one of those giveaways to give Montreal a 1-0 lead at 6:52 of the first period. After intercepting Sabres center Cody Eakin's pass attempt, Suzuki passed over to Caufield, who dished it back to his center in the slot. The Canadiens have scored first in each of their past four wins.
Suzuki scored on a penalty shot to make it 2-0 at 5:57 of the second period, skating in and showing patience before going glove side on Anderson. Suzuki was awarded the penalty shot after he was hooked by Sabres forward Dylan Cozens.
Caufield extended it to 3-0 at 1:18 of the third period, scoring off a weak shot off a Canadiens faceoff win that seemed to catch Anderson off guard.
Jake Evans scored into an empty net at 18:27 of the third period to make it 4-0.
--Field Level Media
Buffalo | Montreal | |
N/A | Points | Nick Suzuki 3 |
N/A | Goals | Nick Suzuki 2 |
N/A | Assists | Nick Suzuki 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Craig Anderson .893 | Save Percentage | Sam Montembeault 1.000 |
Craig Anderson 25 | Saves | Sam Montembeault 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Buffalo | 32 | 0 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 9 | 23 |
Montreal | 29 | 4 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 11 | 29 |