Canadiens vs. Sabres: Cole Caufield's Overtime Winner Caps a Two-Goal Saturday Night in Montreal

Some players get nicknames from their size or their hometown. Cole Caufield got his from the calendar. "Mr. Saturday Night" is starting to stick, and after this one it might need to go on the back of his jersey.

Caufield scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into overtime, ripping a breakaway shot over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's blocker shoulder to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at Bell Centre. According to NHL.com, he now has 66 goals in 106 regular-season games played on Saturdays, and the 20,962 on hand got to see why.

Montreal Builds a Cushion

Buffalo struck first. Josh Norris started the play himself, gave the puck up on the right side, drove to the crease to get a stick on a Konsta Helenius shot and swatted home the rebound at 8:21 of the first period.

The Sabres then handed Montreal a lifeline. Noah Ostlund went off for slashing at 10:25, and Zachary Bolduc tipped Nick Suzuki's wrist shot past Luukkonen on the stick side at 11:45 to tie it on the power play. Tage Thompson pinpointed that sequence afterward. "We give them the power play, they score on it and they get a little bit of life," he said. "You can't do that to good teams."

From there, Montreal's top guys took over. At 14:01, Juraj Slafkovsky fed Caufield from behind the net and Caufield buried a quick snap shot, making it 2-1. Early in the second, Alexandre Texier tipped a Kaiden Guhle point shot and then jammed in his own rebound at 7:39 for a 3-1 lead. Alexandre Carrier picked up an assist on both the Caufield and Texier goals.

Buffalo Refuses to Leave

Here is where things got chaotic. Texier took an interference penalty five seconds after scoring, Ostlund followed him to the box at 8:20, and once Texier's minor expired the Canadiens had a power play. Instead, Jack Quinn scored short-handed at 9:52, Buffalo's first short-handed goal of the season, and it was 3-2.

Montreal then got the chance to put it away. With Dennis Gilbert already in the box for hooking, Zach Benson was called for elbowing Caufield at 15:35, giving the Canadiens 45 seconds of 5-on-3 time. They managed a single shot on goal, from Suzuki. Montreal coach Martin St. Louis lamented the missed chances to pull away. "It would have been nice to put the nail in the coffin there," he said.

The Turning Point: Doan Finds Thompson

The Sabres kept chipping, and the equalizer came at 10:12 of the third. Josh Doan pirouetted near the right circle and slid the puck to the far post, where Thompson was waiting alone to beat Jacob Fowler and make it 3-3.

"A great look to the back post," Thompson said of Doan's setup.

The goal was Thompson's 218th with the Sabres, moving him past Jason Pominville for 10th in team history. And Buffalo nearly stole it in regulation. Slafkovsky tripped Jiri Kulich with 2:17 left, and the Sabres camped in the Montreal zone for most of the power play without finishing.

That missed opportunity is what turned this from a Buffalo comeback into a Montreal celebration. In overtime, Norris missed the net on a Buffalo 3-on-1, and the puck came hard off the boards. Caufield chased it down at the blue line, and the race was over before it started. One breakaway, one rocket into the top corner, one more page in the overtime record book.

"I was happy it was on his stick going down there," St. Louis said, with the calm of a coach who has seen this movie before.

Who Stood Out

Cole Caufield: Two goals, including the winner, in 18:03. His 14th regular-season overtime goal extended his own franchise record, and NHL.com noted it tied him with Kirill Kaprizov and Sebastian Aho for the most in the NHL since Caufield's debut season of 2020-21. He also matched Connor McDavid for the most in league history at age 25 or younger. He has four points in two games against Buffalo this week. "The building's electric and these moments never get old," he said.

Juraj Slafkovsky: Two assists, including the setup on Caufield's first goal, plus the late penalty that nearly cost Montreal.

Alexandre Carrier: Two assists and a plus-2 in 22:08 on the blue line.

Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn: The engine of Buffalo's comeback. Quinn's short-handed strike was his fifth goal, and NHL.com noted he has seven points in his past four games. "Just a lot of compete and the belief we have in here that we can come back in games," Quinn said.

Jacob Fowler: 23 saves on 26 shots in his fourth start in five games.

Stats That Matter

• 14: Caufield's regular-season overtime goals, a Canadiens record he keeps extending.
• 63.2 percent: Montreal's faceoff rate, led by Suzuki's 12 wins.
• 0 for 4: Buffalo's power play, including the late chance to win it in regulation.
• 34-26: Montreal's edge in shots, with Luukkonen making 30 saves.
• 19-9: Buffalo's giveaway total compared with Montreal's, the kind of sloppiness Lindy Ruff called out afterward.

What It Means

Montreal improves to 4-3-1 with nine points, has won three of its past four and beat Buffalo twice at Bell Centre this week, with Tuesday's 4-3 win coming in a shootout. The Canadiens are 3-2-0 at home and host San Jose on Tuesday.

Buffalo falls to 4-3-2 with 10 points after entering 2-0-1 in its previous three games. The Sabres rallied from two goals down in both losses to Montreal this week, which says something about their spine. Ruff was not interested in moral victories. "We left quite a few plays out there," the Buffalo coach said. "We didn't execute. I didn't think our passing was near as sharp tonight." The Sabres host Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Closing Take

St. Louis summed up the danger of this Buffalo team perfectly: the Sabres feed on half-finished plays. "The 'almosts' are the plays that they live for," he said. Montreal made just enough of the real plays, and in overtime it had the one player in the building who treats Saturday night like his own personal headline slot. Somewhere, a sketch comedy writer is jealous of the branding.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.