BUF@MTL: Resilience, emotion, and a crucial outcome

MONTREAL - After all the talk about coming out of the gate strong, the Habs' last two outings would suggest it may not matter how they start their games.

On Thursday, they scored with just seven seconds to go in the first period en route to a 4-0 win, and against Buffalo on Saturday night, they headed to the room down by one after 20.
The end result? Two convincing wins at a critical point of the schedule.
"We've been through this long enough," explained Brendan Gallagher following his team's 7-4 win over the divisional rival Sabres at the Bell Centre. "Obviously, we would've liked to get off to a bit of a better start, but it's nice to have Pricey [Carey Price] in there to bail us out at times. We responded the right way."
Of course, Gallagher played an enormous part in the turnaround, scoring the Canadiens' first go-ahead goal of the night after Artturi Lehkonen notched the club's 22,000th goal in history - in near-historic fashion, we might add; see below - to tie the game at 1-1 just over five minutes into the second.

Gallagher's tally came off an incredible second-period play by linemate Phillip Danault, who freed the puck from a Sabres defender in the corner and made a diving, one-handed, semi-blind pass to his winger in the slot in a play that could only be described as brilliant.

"He's such a smart player," praised Gallagher, who set a new career high with the goal and then scored another one in the third period, of Danault. "That goal tonight, the first one I scored, he did such an unbelievable job of first finishing the guy and then working to get the puck. And even knowing I was there was pretty special."
After Andrew Shaw padded the Habs' lead five minutes later - recording a career-high 40th point of the season, no less - the Sabres caught up and tied the game at 3-3 before Paul Byron gave Montreal the lead late in the middle frame.

The Canadiens never looked back from there. Gallagher scored his aforementioned second of the night and 33rd of the campaign. Then, after Jack Eichel made it 5-4, Max Domi capped off an emotional night with his 26th and set the stage for Tomas Tatar - who already had a pair of assists to his name on the night - to add an empty-netter in his 500th career game.

In other words, Buffalo may have given the home squad a few scares, but the Habs weren't in the mood to back down from the fight in this one - especially not in the company of the Bell Centre faithful.
"I think as a team, we do that right. Anytime you get scored on you want to be the team to score the next one. That's just part of hockey. It's not going to happen every time, but when you can manage to do that, it's a good answer and it gets the momentum going, it gets the crowd into it," outlined Domi, whose three-point effort (1G, 2A) saw him chosen as the game's first star. "So at home when we could do that, it's a huge, huge advantage and we took full advantage of it tonight."

Danault watched Domi - whose 26-41-67 season totals are all career highs of his own - play a game chock-full of intensity and felt the young forward was at the top of his game as a result.
"His emotions were at their fullest. When he plays with emotion, that's when he's at his best," shared Danault, who also collected an assist on Tatar's empty-netter. "He showed that tonight and he played a big game."

The end result means that the Canadiens keep pace with the Carolina Hurricanes, who also won on Saturday, and have given themselves a three-point cushion over the idle Columbus Blue Jackets.
Don't expect the Habs to spend too much time celebrating their crucial 7-4 win, though, happy as they may be with their resolve and with the outcome.
"It's a huge win. As a team, I think we stayed focused, we stayed grounded, we found a way to execute and we buried our chances. We had everyone going tonight. It was a great effort. We can enjoy it, but the best part about the League is you play so much and we have a huge game against Carolina tomorrow," concluded Domi. "So as far as we're concerned, we're just getting ready for that one now."
The Canadiens' game against the Hurricanes is set for 7:00 p.m. on Sunday in Raleigh.