Cowan: Canadiens bounce to Carolina with OT Game 7 victory over Sabres

The Canadiens bounced forward Monday night in Buffalo — barely.

They also showed once again that you can never count this young team out.

Alex Newhook scored at 11:22 of overtime as the Canadiens beat the Sabres 3-2 in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series.

The Canadiens can now bounce all the way to Carolina, where they will meet the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Thursday (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).

That’s a remarkable accomplishment for the youngest team in the playoffs only four years into a full rebuild.

It was also Newhook who scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the Lightning in Tampa in Game 7 of the Canadiens’ first-round playoff series. The Canadiens acquired Newhook in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche three summers ago hoping he could help speed up the rebuild, a year after they acquired Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks with the same goal.

After the Canadiens were blown out 8-3 by the Sabres at the Bell Centre in Game 6 on Saturday — allowing seven unanswered goals after taking a 3-1 lead midway through the first period — head coach Martin St. Louis said: “I feel like we’ve been good at bouncing forward and that’s what we intend to do. It wasn’t our best tonight.”

When asked about “bouncing forward” being one of his favourite phrases, St. Louis said: “I just feel bounce back, you come back to where you were. Bounce forward, you’re actually further than where you were.

“Physics,” he added with a laugh.

The Canadiens definitely had some bounce to start Game 7 against the Sabres, jumping out to a 2-0 lead 14:29 into the first period on goals by Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc.

The Canadiens outshot the Sabres 11-9 in the first period, but then decided to sit back and they were outshot 24-11 over the next two periods as the Sabres tied it up with goals by Jordan Greenway at 13:19 of the second period and Rasmus Dahlin at 6:27 of the third period.

The physics weren’t looking good.

The shots were 10-4 for Buffalo in the third period with the Canadiens’ hopes of advancing to Carolina slipping away shot by shot. But goalie Jakub Dobes stopped 37 of the 39 shots he faced in the game — including six in overtime — before Newhook scored the winner on the Canadiens’ third shot of OT. The final shots were 39-25 for Buffalo.

Dobes and the Canadiens now have a 6-0 record after losses in the playoffs, with the goalie posting a .942 save percentage in those games. The Canadiens haven’t lost back-to-back games in just over two months — a span of 30 games.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about this Canadiens team this season, it’s that they never give up — especially on the road in the playoffs. They are now 6-2 on the road through two playoff series.

This is a special group of young players. With an average age of 25.8, this is the youngest team to advance to a conference final since the Canadiens’ 1993 team that went on to win the Stanley Cup, also with an average age of 25.8.

This young Canadiens team will now face a well-rested Hurricanes team, which will have had 11 days off before Game 1 of the conference final after sweeping the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds, posting a perfect 8-0 record.

But history is actually on the Canadiens’ side in this scenario. Since 2000, there have been eight playoff series where one team was coming off a Game 7 win and the other was coming off a four-game sweep. The team that won Game 7 ended up winning seven of those series.

The Canadiens will also be happy to have road-ice advantage against the Hurricanes, since they have a 2-4 record at the Bell Centre during the playoffs. The Canadiens won all three games against the Hurricanes during the regular season, including two in Carolina by scores of 7-5 and 3-1. The Canadiens beat the Hurricanes 5-2 at the Bell Centre.

On Monday morning, St. Louis told reporters in Buffalo that he wasn’t concerned about Dobes after pulling him in Game 6 following the sixth goal. St. Louis said he wanted his team to “play the game that’s in front of you” in Game 7 — another one of his favourite phrases.

“It’s about finding a way,” St. Louis added. “It’s not about being perfect. It’s about finding a way.”

That’s what the Canadiens did — even if it was far from perfect.

“I think me getting pulled at home it was kind of a wake-up call and I took it personal,” Dobes told reporters in Buffalo after Game 7.

Buffalo Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin (26) is pushed into Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during the first period of Game 7 on Monday. Harry Scull Jr. / Buffalo News

When asked about his performance in the second period, when the Canadiens were outshot 14-7 with the Sabres coming at him in waves, Dobes said: “I was just doing my job. Their fans like to chant my name … so I like that, too. Thank you … thanks for that. Actually, that was giving me fire because I like when you are the villain.”

At the end, it was Newhook who was the hero.

“A lot of emotions, for sure,” Newhook told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas in a post-game interview. “It’s a group effort all series long. We had a lot of guys step up at different moments. We found a way tonight and we’re moving forward, so it’s exciting.”

Make that bouncing forward.

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Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) celebrates a Game 7 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Center on Monday. Harry Scull Jr. / Buffalo News

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