Tonight the Buffalo Sabres face their toughest challenge of the season so far, the Montreal Canadiens. Buffalo is coming off of a shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in which Matt Moulson scored the game winner, but the Montreal Canadiens are currently a perfect 7-0 to start the year and are going to fight to continue that. Though the Buffalo Sabres are coming off of a win, the league leading Habs will be an enormous hill to climb.
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Normally in a discussion like this I would be singing the praises of an elite goaltender like Carey Price, and then add in what possible weaknesses he would have against them, but tonight I am faced with a different issue. The starting goaltender for the Canadiens tonight will be backup goaltender Mike Condon. Condon has shown some NHL capability thus far and is the logical choice to put in against the Buffalo Sabres tonight, but doing so may cost them their winning streak.
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Condon has only played in one NHL game this year and he shined with a 1.00 GAA (which Price also has through 6 games played) and he is yet to be pushed and tested consistently. With the Buffalo Sabres chomping at the bit for a string of wins, that pressure may come tonight.
Now, to fully credit the Montreal goaltenders for the success would be unfair. The defense in Montreal has improved tenfold from last year and is finally giving the goaltending the support that they need. If the Buffalo Sabres wish to put together a string of wins and break the perfect streak of the Canadiens so far, then they will need to solve the defensive issue in front of them.
The Buffalo Sabres have not struggled to put shot on goal recently, but they still have a little bit of trouble putting the puck in the back of the net. For tonight’s game to go well enough, they will not only need another solid performance from goaltender Chad Johnson, but they will also need some stellar performances from the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, and Zemgus Girgensons in particular.
O’Reilly is not doing bad production wise, but his matchup against David Desharnais is lopsided in his favor. O’Reilly is a much more creative and offensively skills center man and has the upper hand against Desharnais. He should be looking to use this to his advantage as much as he can to pick on the rookie goaltender.
Where The Buffalo Sabres have the advantage tonight is in their Center depth and skills compared to the ones in Montreal. Tomas Plekanic, Alex Galchenyuk, and David Desharnais are all very capable centers, but the effort and skill that are in Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, and Zemgus Girgensons are just a little bit better. O’Reilly and Girgensons should especially have the upper hand in their match ups, and the Sabres need to take advantage of that in order to break through for some good opportunities.
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