Montreal Canadiens have history on their side as they face the Buffalo Sabres in 40th anniversary game
October 15, 1970 was an important day in the long and storied history of the National Hockey League. It was the day that the Buffalo Sabres franchise played their first home game in the
NHL. Wearing their blue and gold jerseys, the Sabres would go on to lose the game to the visiting Montreal Canadiens, who won with a shutout.
Forty years to the day after that game was played, the Sabres will face the Montreal Canadiens in what hopes to be a historic home opener. After several years without their original blue
and gold colours, the Sabres have revived the classic jerseys, putting to the rest the failed, slug-like logo that was used from 2006 until 2010.
While Buffalo ended up on the wrong side of a shutout loss in their first game against the Habs, the home team hopes erase history with a win. The Sabres began the 2010-11 NHL season with
a game on the road against the Ottawa Senators, going on to win that game by a score of 2-1.
The Sabres’ roster remains relatively unchanged from last season, with the only noticeable departures being veteran defencemen Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman. They were replaced by Shaone
Morrisonn and Jordan Leopold. Veteran forward Rob Niedermayer was also added, giving the team a veteran presence in the dressing room. Other new faces include rookies Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe, who is the NHL’s shortest player at only 5ft 5in tall.
Hoping to play the roles of party crashers, the Canadiens have lost two of their first three games of the season. Their most recent loss came at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who
spoiled the Habs’ home opener with a 4-3 overtime win. Lighting's Ryan Malone scored the winning overtime goal, sinking the home team and Canadiens' goaltender, Carey Price, stopped 43 of 47 shots in the loss.
Canadiens head coach, Jacques Martin, said that he was pleased with Price’s effort, despite the loss.
“I thought he made some big saves again,” Martin said. “And when you look at the game, we’re leading 3-2, actually even 2-1, and we didn’t get the puck out of our zone.
“We should have had the puck out, a couple of mistakes, but he sure made some big saves.”
During the offseason, the Habs roster was retooled slightly. Playoff hero Jaroslav Halak was traded to the St. Louis Blues, while the team signed veteran centre Jeff Halpern to help bolster
their checking line. Rookie defenceman P.K. Subban, who was also outstanding during the Canadiens’ 2009-10 playoff run, has earned a roster spot. Joining him is forward Tom Pyatt, who was a pleasant surprise during a mid-season call-up last year.
One of the Habs’ strong points last year was their power play. Led by defenceman Andrei Markov, the Habs were a force to be reckoned with when they had the man advantage. However, Markov
is currently recovering from an injury sustained during last season’s playoffs, and is slated to return within the next few weeks. The Canadiens’ power play has suffered without Markov in the line-up, as they went 0-for-3 against the Lightning. The Habs have
gone on the power play nine times since the season began, but they have failed to capitalize on each of the opportunities.
Coming into this game, Montreal holds the historical advantage over Buffalo, but the Sabres won four of six games against the Habs last season, thanks mostly to the superb play of goalie
Ryan Miller. Miller, who played a starring role for both the Sabres and the United States team at the Olympics, has stolen many a game for the Sabres over the years.
No matter what the result of this game is, history will be made. The Sabres hope that they can exact their revenge on the Canadiens with a win that will serve as payback for the shutout
that occurred 40 years ago, while the Habs will try to earn their second win of the season. The game is scheduled to begin at 19:30 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.
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