By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — First, Tampa Bay. Now Buffalo. Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Newhook keeps coming up big in Game 7s.
The 25-year-old scored his second seventh-game, series-clincher of the playoffs — this time 11:22 into overtime — in the a 3-2 win over the Sabres on Monday night.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Newhook said. “It’s fun. It’s why you play the game. I think we played well enough to win, so we’re looking forward now.”
After Buffalo’s Tage Thompson and captain Rasmus Dahlin misplayed the puck at Montreal’s blue line, defenseman Alexandre Carrier drove up the right wing before sending a cross-ice pass, hitting Newhook in stride entering the Buffalo zone.
Just before reaching the top of the left circle, and with linemate Jake Evans flashing in front of goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Newhook snapped a shot just inside the far right post. It was his team-leading seventh goal of the postseason and followed his behind-the-net goal with 8:53 left in regulation that broke a 1-1 tie in Montreal’s 2-1 win in Game 7 of its first-round series at Tampa Bay.
“I wasn’t sure if Jake touched it, so I kind of looked at him to see if he was going to celebrate or not,” Newhook said. “Great to see you find the back of the net. And there’s no better feeling celebrating with your teammates after a win like that.”
Newhook is now among only 14 NHL players with two career game-winning goals in Game 7, with Boston’s Nathan Horton (2011) the only other one to do so in a single postseason.
“I’m so happy for him,” Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes said, noting Newhook missed three months of the season with a broken ankle. “He deserves it. He deserve all, everything that is happening to him. … I mean, what a hell of a player.”
Montreal won despite squandering a 2-0 first-period lead, with Dahlin forcing overtime by scoring 6:27 into the third period. And they improved to 17-9 in Game 7s, passing Boston for most seventh-game victories in the NHL playoffs.
The Canadiens advance to the Eastern Conference finals, where they’ll face the well-rested Hurricanes in a series set to open at Carolina on Thursday. The Hurricanes have swept each of their first two series, and been off since a 3-2 overtime win against Philadelphia on May 9.
Carolina’s 11-day break between playoffs games is the longest in NHL history.
“It’s going to be important to take a second and enjoy this but turn the page pretty quickly,” said Mike Matheson. “They’ve had a lot of time off, a lot of time to prepare, so we’re going to have to flip that switch very quickly.”
Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc also scored for the Canadiens. Dobes finished with 37 saves in bouncing back after allowing six goals on 33 shots in an 8-3 loss in Game 6 on Saturday.
Montreal has not lost consecutive games since mid-March, while Dobes improved to 6-0 this postseason when coming off a loss.
Jordan Greenway also scored for Buffalo, while Luukkonen finished with 22 saves.
“It hurts. I told the teams, it hurts,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “The pain will go away. But I won’t let this one game define the season we had. I told the players how proud I was of them.”
Buffalo dropped to 1-7 in Game 7, including 1-3 in overtime.
The Sabres enter their offseason following a breakout year in which they won their first Atlantic Division title and ended an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought. Buffalo’s turnaround began in early December, when the team went from last in the East standings to finish second by going 39-9-5 over its final 53 games.
The Sabres’ first-round win over Boston was their first since 2007, and the team returns a young and talented group that reflects a promising future in Buffalo.
The Canadiens advance to the NHL’s semifinal round for the first time since facing Vegas in the COVID-altered 2021 playoffs, in which Montreal eventually lost the Stanley Cup Final in five games to Tampa Bay.
Montreal has essentially been rebuilt since, and continue their upward trajectory a year after being eliminated in the first round by Washington.
Newhook is part of the new-look Canadiens. He’s in his second season in Montreal after winning the Stanley Cup with the 2022 Colorado Avalanche.
“We’re a confident group,” Newhook said. “We’ve added some pieces, and I think everyone’s kind of come together to play together and play their role to the best of their ability this far in playoffs. We’ve got to keep it rolling.”
This is the first playoff meeting between the two teams since Carolina beat Montreal in six games of a 2006 first-round series. The Hurricanes also beat Montreal in 2002, after going 0-5 against the Canadiens when the franchise was based in Hartford, Connecticut.