“The majority of the games that we’ve won, we’ve earned those victories by the way we’ve played and the way we’ve executed”, said Subban.
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Goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves for the Maple Leafs (1-4-2). He had a goal and four assists in the 7-2 win in Buffalo last Friday to become the second Canadiens defenceman to have at least five points in a road game.
The Blackhawks played their second game without top defenseman Duncan Keith, who underwent right knee surgery last week.
In St. Louis, Mikhail Grabovski scored his first goal of the season 4 minutes into overtime.
The key for the season may be to avoid complacency. The Sabres looked like they were managing well enough, keeping up with an undefeated, impressive Montreal club.
The matchup: Both teams are riding streaks, but they are very different.
Special teams remain a problem area, though. They are 4/1 favorites to come out of the East. New York’s window has been open for a few years since making the 2012 and 2015 conference final and winning the east in 2014. This season brings much more load sharing so far. Oddsmakers have the Flames as a favorite at home, as they are getting odds of -110 to win.
David Pastrnak broke a tie late in the second period and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 5-3. It was a 3-3 overtime game. But with Talbot out, more may be required of Lundqvist this season.
“They got in behind us at the start of the third period, twice, we had kind of felt bad for ourselves before we got playing again”, Babcock said Sunday. Eichel has a team-high two goals but is still seeking his first assist. Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels also scored for San Jose.
As for scoring, Rick Nash is still without a goal after a forgettable postseason.
J.T. Miller and Derick Brassard scored for the Rangers. One for each of their Stanley Cup wins. But taking opponents for granted is in part what led the Canadiens to drop their last season series against the Sabres, a team that was tanking so hard they might have confused themselves for the North Bay Battalion-an Ontario Hockey League major junior team. The reigning Atlantic Division champions are the only undefeated team left in the National Hockey League and have every chance of repeating a 100+ point performance thanks to their all-world goaltender. Chris Kunitz had the other goal for Pittsburgh, which won for the fourth time in five games. A power play with six minutes left increased the pressure on Price who was doing everything he could in net while the Montreal PK figured out a way to move the puck out.
The advantage helped Montreal add shots to the net but none had the potential to give them the lead.
But as the second period was nearing its end, Max Pacioretty pivoted to his left on a shorthanded two-on-one and floated a puck through Bernier’s legs.
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What’s different, though, is that Pacioretty is one of four skaters on the team who already has double-digit points – Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov, and P.K. Subban all have ten points apiece – and the team has sixteen different players who boast points already.
