The Montreal Canadiens had beaten the Buffalo Sabres in the two previous games they had played when the two teams reconvened at the Bell Centre on November 11. After identical 3-0 wins, the home crowd hadn’t been treated to a similar performance through 40 minutes, seeing their team down 1-0 to start the third.
With Jack Eichel in the box, they were able to tie things up quickly in the third thanks to Andrew Shaw. Regulation saw no further scoring, sending the teams to overime.
At about the three-minute mark of the three-on-three period, a puck battle at the Sabres blue line was won by Phillip Danault, creating a two-on-one against Benoit Pouliot.