Canadiens show Sabres they won’t back down from the rough stuff

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis believes his team can play any type of game the opposition wants to challenge them with.

“I think we’re equipped for anything,” St. Louis said during the Canadiens’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which they won in seven games. “You just got to be ready for what’s next in front of you. You have to bring some jam, I feel, to every game, but there’s a lot of free hits out there. You got to be ready to give them. Sometimes you got to respond from the dirty stuff. You got to stick together.

“You want to play a wide-open game?” the coach added. “We can do that, too. But I feel you got to be calculated and you got to play the game that’s in front of you and be ready for anything. We can do that.”

They certainly can — and the Canadiens have shown it while taking a 2-1 series lead in their second-round series against the Buffalo Sabres with Game 4 Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).

Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj checks Sabres centre Tyson Kozak during Game 2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo last week. Harry Scull Jr. / Buffalo News

The Canadiens pounded the Sabres 6-2 in Game 3 at the Bell Centre on Sunday night and also showed they will stick up for each other when the going gets tough. The Canadiens outhit the Sabres 25-21 in a game that included 80 penalty minutes and a lot of rough stuff.

Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj was fined US$3,385.41 by NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday — the maximum allowed by the collective bargaining agreement — for roughing up Sam Carrick at the end of Game 3, including a gloved punch to the face that knocked the Sabres player down to the ice.

It was money well spent by Xhekaj — who earned US$1.3 million this season — to send a message to the Sabres.

The NHL’s safety department also fined the Sabres’ Beck Malenstyn $3,515.63 — again the maximum allowable under the CBA — for goalie interference after he ran over the Canadiens’ Jakub Dobes in the second period.

“We didn’t like some of the things they did,” Xhekaj said after the Canadiens’ morning skate Tuesday. “They ran Doby and they were throwing punches in every scrum at our guys. At some point you got to push back and I think we did pretty well.”

They certainly did.

Zachary Bolduc, who has been a physical presence in the playoffs while posting 2-4-6 totals in the first 10 games, didn’t hesitate to jump on Malenstyn after he ran into Dobes.

Kirby Dach — not known for engaging in the rough stuff — grabbed two Sabres players in headlocks and dragged them both out of a scrum in front of the Buffalo net.

“We just care about each other,” Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson said after Game 3. “It could be anyone in there. That’s just part of the game and we have some guys that are pretty good at it and guys like me who aren’t great at it — but we try. It’s good to see.”

Xhekaj said the seven-game series against the Lightning — with every game decided by one goal — was a great experience for the Canadiens, who are the youngest team in the playoffs.

“It was a dogfight every game and we had to battle every single night,” he said. “So it was good. When things get heated now, we’re ready for it.”

The Sabres won the first game of the second-round series 4-2, but were outscored 11-3 over the next two games while being dominated by the Canadiens.

It looks like Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff will make some roster changes for Game 4 with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen expected to start in goal instead of Alex Lyon, while forward Konsta Helenius and defenceman Luke Schenn are expected to play in place of Sam Carrick and Logan Stanley, respectively. It will be the first playoff game this year for Helenius and Schenn. Luukkonen hasn’t played since allowing four goals on 20 shots in the first 40:16 of a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of their first-round series. 

“You’ve got to reset,” Ruff said. “Playoffs is about the next game. It’s not about the past one. The only thing we can control now is Game 4.”

St. Louis is also looking ahead — not back — with his team holding a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 5 back in Buffalo on Thursday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).

“You got to stay alert and you just got to do the things that the game is asking you to do all the time,” St. Louis told reporters on Monday. “So you have to be alert. You’re hoping for an offensive shift, it’s not what the game is asking you to do at that time. It’s just to be really mature in understanding that and I feel we’re equipped to be able to do that knowing that nothing is bulletproof. But if you rely on just that mindset, knowing that you’re equipped to deal with it, you’re going to help yourself.

“We’re attacking these games with just truth,” St. Louis added. “Take the scoreboard out of the equation. I think that’s one way to help in staying even keel. Every morning we come back, the scoreboard is not part of the equation and you have some truth of where we can be better — even in a win. You’re still going to talk about stuff that you did well, but you have to take the scoreboard out and to me that’s what we try to do each and every day.”

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