Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson had not scored a goal in 16 postseason games. Matheson had easily been passed on the offensive depth chart among defenseman by Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson. However, the defender fired a slapper past Alex Lyon on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres that turned heads. Matheson made the game 2-0 less than five minutes into the contest. From there, the defenseman made an impact in other ways with three shots on goal, three blocked shots, and protecting Zach Benson's head. Also, Matheson logged a game-high 26:44 of ice time on 25 shifts in the Game 2 road triumph.

Jakub Dobes and the Montreal Canadiens have altered wins and losses this postseason. The young goaltender has won five times in nine starts. However, Friday was the fourth time he won after a defeat. In those games, Dobes is an amazing 4-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average and .946 save percentage. The Montreal goaltender has five quality starts this postseason and stopped 28 of 29 shots in Game 2. That included 10 Buffalo shots on the Sabres' power play. Dobes may have not had his finest effort on Wednesday but, like Montreal, he roared back on Friday night.

Alex Newhook got the goal scoring started for the Montreal Canadiens a mere 96 seconds into Game 2. Newhook found his way into position to score again to make it 3-0 Montreal early in the second period. The center now has three goals in his last three games. Overall, Newhook blocked a shot and got four shots on goal in Game 2. That gives him four points in nine postseason contests for Montreal. Newhook may have missed 40 games during the regular season but he is making a difference in the playoffs. The last two games, in particular, have seen Newhook rack up eight shots and seven scoring chances.

Lukas Dostal had three quality starts in a row for the Anaheim Ducks. Friday night, at home, was not one of them. Dostal was pulled after yielding three goals on eight shots. Ville Husso played the final 40 minutes of the 6-2 Game 3 defeat. Dostal seemingly had turned the corner after allowing 18 goals in the first five games of the Edmonton Oilers series. The goaltender was ironically pulled after that Game 5 in favor of Husso. Overall, Dostal is 5-4 this postseason, while giving up 26 goals on 210 shots for an .876 save percentage. One thing is for sure. The goaltender must stop the puck more.