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For the second time in five days, the Buffalo Sabers and Montreal Canadiens went to overtime at the Bell Centre, and for the second time, the Canadiens won it. Cole Caufield with a stunning shot upstairs on a breakaway gave the Canadiens a 4-3 win.
Wilde’s Horse
It was the first game of the season for Oliver Kapanen. He looked sturdy. The last time Kapanen looked as talented as he did on Saturday was around game 60 last season, before he hit a wall for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
Kapanen has his trademark wit. He appeared confident with Kirby Dach in a two-on-one battle. Together with Kapanen, Dach performed well for the first time this season.
If Kapanen finds his better game, it would be a huge boost for the Canadiens who are looking for a 12th forward who doesn’t bring teams down. Another night and another goal for Bolduc. On the power play, Bolduc was on a bumper, and he deflected a point shot from Nick Suzuki for the count.
The top line is in excellent performance. They scored thanks to hard work from first checker Juraj Slafkovsky. He managed to get behind the goal right after the defender dumped-in. He passed it to Cold Caufield who scored his fourth goal of the season. Again, it comes from an angle that most players wouldn’t even try to shoot.
Even after a 51-goal season, the goaltender still wasn’t ready to shoot Caufield from anywhere. Caufield understands that he gets big chances when goalies aren’t ready. He’s also pretty good when they’re ready.
Caufield won it on a breakaway from the center in overtime. He looked shot and fired it so quickly in and out of the top corner, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen didn’t even move.
Suzuki’s lineup had its best contest this season. Total Expected Goals is simply amazing. They own 99.3 percent of the shares. Suzuki is one of the best players in this league. It’s rare for him to be beaten by an opponent, even when he’s facing the best centers in hockey.
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Injuries are always bad, there’s no argument for that, but oddly enough, injuries can also lead to accidental discoveries. Mike Matheson’s day-to-day injury has led to Kaiden Guhle returning to line up with Alexandre Carrier.
As a result, these two defenders played their best hockey. They look harmonious. They compliment each other. They understand each other. They have great chemistry. Midweek, Guhle played 25:25 in one of the highest ice time records in a game.
He was the first star of the game. Guhle has returned to action looking like he’s had no surgery at all; or skip training camp. Together with Carrier, they dominated the game. They rarely get into trouble. Carriers are also less affected.
Their best moment of the night was a penalty kick in a draw with one minute remaining. Both boxed beautifully to keep the shots looking out. They make a deadly couple.
Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson also look good together. Both partners have a 60 percent share in the Expected Goal.
The only reason the Canadiens have these two amazing pairings right now is the Canadiens were devastated by the Carolina Hurricanes when Dobson and Matheson were together. It was that terrible night that was the first step in this positive change.
Wilde’s Goat
It’s been interesting to watch the Canadiens try to bring in another defender since trading Jayden Struble. This didn’t go according to plan. The Canadiens felt they could trade Struble as Adam Engstrom and David Reinbacher were ready to go.
Engstrom auditioned first, and he was terrible. In one match, two goals came out of his body when he wasn’t boxing, and he had little awareness of the danger. Engstrom continues to make bad decisions when he has a lot of time and space.
Saturday night, they tried Reinbacher. He fell apart on the Sabres’ first goal. He took the puck just inside his own blue line. He felt so panicked that he threw the piece of ice only about ten feet away, without looking at who happened to be there. Sadly, for Reinbacher, it was two of Swords.
Buffalo, almost immediately, went on the counterattack again, and the Canadiens were caught believing they had the ball. Reinbacher then compounded the first mistake by making another one that was just as bad.
He didn’t pick up his players at all, basically, standing in front of the net alone looking around. The result was a Josh Norris goal. Reinbacher is a much better player than this, but he is anxious, and his decision making completely gets away from him.
The rest of the night Reinbacher was acceptable, and the coaching staff considered him reliable enough because with five minutes remaining, in a 3-3 game, Reinbacher was on the ice. That was as big a vote of confidence as a player could get in his first home game in the NHL.
Wilde Card
It hasn’t been a good start to the season for Montreal. They are near the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings. However, they didn’t need to worry. Beneath the surface, the Canadiens have metrics that suggest they are playing very well.
Using analytics, such as Corsi and Expected Goals, the story on tape is very good. The Canadiens reached the playoffs the last two seasons with abysmal Corsi. They were 28th in 2025 and 23rd in 2026. They qualified for the playoffs thanks to their good scoring ability.
This season, it’s the opposite. The Canadiens are one of the best teams in the league in advanced metrics. They have been winning the Corsi and Expected Goals battles all season, except for the Carolina Hurricanes game when they were dominated.
Overall, Montreal is fifth this year in Corsi. The Canadiens played more teams against each other than in a decade and a half. The longer the season goes on, the more important this statistic becomes. The last three cup winners were first, fourth, and second in Corsi.
The problem is goaltending where the Canadiens have had a bad time so far. Montreal is 29th out of 32 teams in Goals Saved Above Expected this season. Jakub Dobes will find his game. If he does, the Corsi advantage will show up as a win on the scoreboard.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Wilde Calls at globalnews.ca after every Canadiens game.
