The Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens traded goals in the opening frame, and the sides are tied 1-1 after one period in Game 3 of their second-round series.
Tage Thompson broke his cold streak early in the game, notching his first goal in his past seven games to give Buffalo the lead after just 53 seconds.
Alex Newhook found the answer for the Canadiens late in the period, his fourth goal of the playoffs after notching 13 in 42 games in the regular season.
The Sabres took their first power play of the game when two players were whistled for roughing at the 18:44 mark - Connor Timmins got a two-minute penalty, while Zach Bolduc took a four-minute roughing call to put the Sabres on the man advantage.
The Sabres were set to have an extra 44 seconds of power play in the beginning of the second period - but defenceman Rasmus Dahlin took a roughing penalty for fighting Kaiden Guhle after the buzzer, meaning the second period will begin with 4-on-4 action.
Buffalo controlled the pace of play early in the game, but in the second half of the first period, the Canadiens were the better team.
The Canadiens found multiple dangerous chances to break through against Alex Lyon in the back half of the opening frame, including chances alone for Nick Suzuki and Philip Danault, but it was Newhook who finally broke through at the 15:31 mark.
Newhook scored in a right-place-right-time opportunity, as his shot from a hard angle took a bounce off a Sabres skater in front of the net and trickled in behind Lyon to even the score at 1-1.
Josh Norris took the game’s first penalty at the 7:42 mark, when he tackled Suzuki in the neutral zone. Montreal mustered just one shot on goal in the power play as Buffalo retained a 1-0 lead.
A defensive breakdown let the puck find Dahlin’s stick at the blue line in the game’s opening possession in the Canadiens zone. Dahlin’s shot on net took an odd bounce off a player and found Thompson all alone in the crease, who deposited the puck for an easy goal to open the scoring.
The Sabres and Habs are each looking to take a lead in the series - the Canadiens are looking for their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since the 2021 playoffs, while the Sabres are trying to advance that far for the first time since 2007.
