Canadiens lament on forechecking in opening frame after loss to Sabres
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MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens’ 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night can easily be broken down into two distinct parts.
First came the game’s opening period, which saw Buffalo storm out to a 2-0 lead, including a goal in the game’s first minute and another coming with Montreal playing with the man advantage.
“We didn’t do a good enough job forechecking through the neutral zone,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. “We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, a 2-on-1 to start the game. That can’t happen. It was more so on us than whatever they were doing.”
“The only thing I hated about our game was our forechecking in the first,” added Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis. “It hurt us.”
Adjustments were admittedly made between the first and second periods, which flipped the proverbial switch for Montreal.
Despite giving up a goal to Zach Benson 2:25 into the second period, Montreal dominated possession throughout the middle frame, outshooting the Sabres 15-3.
Montreal would be rewarded with a pair of goals, Suzuki first feeding linemate Cole Caufield for a one-timer to cut the deficit to two.
Montreal’s captain scored a goal of his own later in the period, converting on a Zachary Bolduc rebound to bring the team even closer.
“I think we just started defending them a lot better,” said Suzuki. “It’s a shame that it took us to get down 3-0 to start doing that. It’s a big part of the reason we lost. I thought after they scored their third goal, we pretty much carried the play and could have tied it up.”
Nevertheless, although the Canadiens outshot the Sabres 34-17 on the night, that game-tying goal never came. This was much to the chagrin of Montreal’s Phillip Danault, who felt his team deserved at least one point for their effort.
“The game is getting tighter,” said Danault. “Everyone’s pushing for a playoff spot. It won’t be easy. It will always be a good challenge.”
With the loss, their second in regulation time to Buffalo in a span of eight days, Montreal’s lead over the Sabres in the Atlantic Division can best be described as tenuous.
Buffalo now sits just two points back of Montreal for third place in the division, with Buffalo still holding one game in hand on their cross-border rivals.
With the teams set to meet one final time this season on Jan. 31 in Buffalo, the Canadiens, to a man, understand they’ll need to play a certain style of play to come out on top.
“You got to be calculating in how you forecheck them,” said St. Louis. “You look at who beat them (in regulation), I think, the last two times: Florida and Carolina. Florida forechecks hard, Carolina plays man-on-man.
“You can’t forecheck space against that team. As soon as you double up in space, you’re going to get eaten alive.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.