{"id":380,"date":"2026-05-15T08:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380"},"modified":"2026-05-15T08:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:04:18","slug":"suzuki-evans-cap-2nd-period-surge-canadiens-beat-sabres-6-3-to-take-3-2-lead-in-2nd-round-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380","title":{"rendered":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Captain Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens\u2019 top line brought the offense, goalie Jakub Dobes shook off a rough start, and Montreal is one win from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals.<\/p>\n

Read more Marner, Dorofeyev propel Golden Knights past Ducks 5-1 in Game 6 clincher, into conference finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Suzuki and Jake Evans capped a three-goal second period surge by scoring 68 seconds apart in a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, giving the Canadiens a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

Montreal didn\u2019t lead until Evans swept a loose puck over the goal line behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to put the Canadiens up 4-3 with 3:45 remaining in the second period. Ivan Demidov set up the goal when his shot glanced off Luukkonen\u2019s glove and then dribbled behind him.<\/p>\n

Suzuki then scored 10 seconds into a power-play opportunity by converting Juraj Slafkovsky\u2019s one-handed pass from the end boards and beating Luukkonen through the legs with a shot from the lower right circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power-play goal was huge, felt like it gave us a little bit of breathing room,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cJust kept trying to put the foot on the gas a little bit, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demidov, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson and Alexandre Texier also scored for Montreal, which will host Game 6 on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Dobes allowed three goals on the first four shots he faced before stopping the final 32. The rookie goalie was pleased with coach Martin St. Louis\u2019 decision to keep him in the game, especially after Dobes acknowledged he sagged after rookie Konsta Helenius beat him through the legs to put Buffalo up 3-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him thank you for leaving me and trying to prove myself,\u201d Dobes said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of myself too for not giving up and keep making saves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Doan and Jason Zucker also scored for the Atlantic Division champions, who are facing elimination for the first time this postseason.<\/p>\n

Luukkonen allowed five goals on 23 shots, and was pulled after two periods \u2014 the second time he\u2019s been yanked this postseason. Alex Lyon mopped up, allowing a goal on three shots. Lyon is potentially in line to regain the starting duties after losing the job following a 6-2 loss in Game 3.<\/p>\n

Read more Apex hosts 2nd annual MARCH 1000: Men unite for mental health awareness<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not good enough. Not good enough,\u201d Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. \u201cI thought we had a pretty good start actually, too. We should have locked it down better and played better defensively. It\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sabres have dropped two of three at home in the series, and are 2-4 overall in the playoffs. On the bright side, they\u2019re 4-1 on the road, including a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Montreal finally got much-needed production from its top line, with Suzuki (goal, two assists), Slafkovsky (three assists) and Caufield getting on the scoresheet. The trio had combined for four goals and five assists in the first four games of the series.<\/p>\n

Most encouraging was Caufield\u2019s goal being the line\u2019s first in a five-on-five situation in the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery good for the confidence,\u201d said Slafkovsky. \u201cWe stuck with it, and it\u2019s good for confidence. But it doesn\u2019t matter. In two days, we got to do it again and play our best game of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montreal is one win from advancing to the semifinal round of the playoffs for the first time since the Covid pandemic altered 2021 playoffs. The Canadiens eventually reached the Stanley Cup Final and lost to Tampa Bay in five games.<\/p>\n

Buffalo and Montreal combined for five goals in the first 10:15, including Doan and Texier scoring nine seconds apart.<\/p>\n

The five goals were scored in a span of 8:15, which ranks 11th on the playoff list of fastest between two teams.<\/p>\n

Buffalo\u2019s deficiencies continue being exposed. After allowing 12 goals in six games of their first-round series against Boston, the Sabres have allowed 21 already to Montreal \u2014 and 19 in the past four.<\/p>\n

Read more Cooper commands 10-point lead in US Senate Race: Local Matters Episode 4<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/stanley-cup and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Captain Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens\u2019 top line brought the offense,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSuzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Captain Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens\u2019 top line brought the offense,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60\"},\"headline\":\"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380\"},\"wordCount\":709,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380\",\"name\":\"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=380#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Raleigh Moving News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News","og_description":"BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Captain Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens\u2019 top line brought the offense,...","og_url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380","og_site_name":"Raleigh Moving News","article_published_time":"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60"},"headline":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series","datePublished":"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380"},"wordCount":709,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380","url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380","name":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series - Raleigh Moving News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-15T08:04:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b95e28495b3d8c7c3b757cffbf6045ad.webp","width":1280,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=380#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Suzuki, Evans cap 2nd-period surge, Canadiens beat Sabres 6-3 to take 3-2 lead in 2nd-round series"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/","name":"Raleigh Moving News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}