Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into overtime, lifting the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win against the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Seconds after Josh Norris missed the net on a 3-on-1, the puck rolled down the left side and Caufield collected it to break in and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen bar down.
Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Texier also scored for the Canadiens, who earned their third win in four games. Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky and Alexandre Carrier each had two assists, and Jacob Fowler made 23 saves.
Norris, Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres, who earned a point for the fourth consecutive game (2-0-2). Luukkonen stopped 30 shots.
Thompson was uncovered at the right of the net to receive a cross-ice pass from Josh Doan and tie it 3-3 at 10:12 of the third period.
Norris gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 8:21 of the first period. Konsta Helenius fired a shot from the top of the right circle for a redirect by Norris. Fowler made the save, but Norris stayed with it and snapped the rebound past the goalie from the right side of the net.
Bolduc tied it on a power play on Montreal’s first shot on goal, tipping a Nick Suzuki shot blocker side past Luukkonen at 11:45 of the first.
Caufield made it 2-1 Canadiens less than three minutes later. Buffalo’s Olen Zellweger went to retrieve the puck behind his net, but Slafkovsky used his reach to poke it over to Caufield, who quickly put it short side from the left of the net.
Montreal capitalized on a faceoff win to push the lead to 3-1 at 7:39 of the second period. Phillip Danault won the draw, Bolduc collected it and fed it to Carrier, who quickly dished it to Kaiden Guhle at the left point. Luukkonen made the save, but Texier was right there to clean up the rebound and put it by Luukkonen’s right pad.
Quinn notched his first career short-handed goal to pull Buffalo within one. Zach Benson retrieved a loose puck near the left corner and zipped it to Quinn driving to the net, where he put it past Fowler’s right skate at 9:52 of the middle period.
