Alex Newhook scores twice in 4:27

Montreal’s win was the kind that changes the feel of a series fast. Not because one game counts extra — it doesn’t — but because a 5-1 road blowout after dropping Game 1 wipes out a lot of early panic. Alex Newhook did the damage almost immediately, scoring twice in the opening 4:27 and putting Buffalo in chase mode before the building had really settled in. By the end of Friday night, the Canadiens had evened the series and stolen home-ice advantage. ### Why did this game turn so quickly? Because Montreal landed the first punch and then another one right after it. Newhook scored twice in those first 4:27, and Buffalo never really got back to level. Playoff games can swing on one bad stretch, but this was more like an opening collapse — the Sabres were down 2-0 almost instantly, and the rest of the night became recovery work. (nhl.com) ### Why was Newhook the story? He gave Montreal exactly the kind of secondary scoring teams beg for in May. Buffalo could spend its attention on the Canadiens’ bigger names, but Newhook punished that space early. When a player outside the headline line scores twice before the 5-minute mark, the whole matchup changes — coaches shorten benches, defenders press, and the game stops looking like the one they planned for. (nhl.com) ### Who else pushed it toward a rout? Montreal didn’t win this only on the first burst. Cole Caufield, Mike Matheson, and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored, which is why the game kept widening instead of tightening. Buffalo’s only goal came from Zach Benson, and that wasn’t enough to make the Canadiens uncomfortable for long. Jakub Dobes finished with 21 saves, which meant Montreal got both pieces it needed — early scoring and calm goaltending behind it. (nhl.com) ### What went wrong for Buffalo? The Sabres lost the script they had in Game 1. They had opened this series by controlling the game early and protecting the lead. In Game 2, the reverse happened. Falling behind that fast forced Buffalo to push up the ice, and that usually creates the exact kind of looser game the trailing team hates. Even afterward, the tone from Buffalo was basically that the performance was unacceptable, even if the series score still says 1-1. (espn.com) ### Does this actually swing the series? Yes — not decisively, but materially. Buffalo won Game 1 at home and had a chance to take a 2-0 series lead before the matchup moved to Montreal. Instead, the Canadiens split the first two at KeyBank Center, which is the road team’s basic mission in a seven-game series. Now Montreal gets Games 3 and 4 at home, and Buffalo no longer has the clean home-ice path it earned in the bracket. (nhl.com) ### What happens next? Game 3 is set for Sunday, May 10, in Montreal, and Game 4 follows there on Tuesday, May 12. So the pressure has shifted. Buffalo still has a split, which is survivable. But Montreal is the team that now gets to reset at home after the most convincing game of the series so far. ### Bottom line? This wasn’t just a bounce-back win. It was Montreal proving that Buffalo’s Game 1 edge wasn’t permanent. (nhl.com) Newhook’s two goals blew open the night, and the Canadiens turned that opening into the exact result every road team wants — a split, momentum, and the next two games in its own building. (nhl.com)