Newhook Habs Ride Five Playoff Goals Into Series Lead
newhook habs took another step forward on Mother’s Day, and Alex Newhook was at the center of it. The 25-year-old scored two goals at the Bell Centre in Game 3 against the Buffalo Sabres, pushing his playoff total to five as the Canadiens moved into the series lead.
Four of those five goals have come in the last two games. That run is what has changed Montreal’s attack, because Newhook entered the series with a Game 2 burst and followed it with another two-goal night when the Canadiens needed the finish more than the flash.
Game 3 at Bell Centre
Newhook’s Game 3 line was simple and decisive: two goals, one on Mother’s Day, in front of a home crowd at the Bell Centre. He also won 63% of his faceoffs, giving Montreal more than scoring in a game that swung on his ability to stay involved in shifts all over the ice.
That followed the kind of night teammates notice. After Game 2, Jake Evans called him relentless and said he had to be the fastest guy on the ice out there. Nick Suzuki added that after Newhook’s first goal, he just continued to dominate the whole game.
Buffalo Couldn’t Slow Him
Game 2 set the tone. Newhook scored 96 seconds into that game against Buffalo and scored again in the second period, giving him the kind of quick start that forced the Sabres to chase him instead of the other way around. By the time Game 3 ended, Montreal had another playoff result shaped by his scoring touch.
The surge matters because it comes from a player who already showed he could finish a series. Newhook scored the Game 7 winner that eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, and now he has five playoff goals after Game 3, with four coming in the last two games.
Newfoundland And Labrador
Newhook’s playoff stretch also lands close to home. Ahead of Game 3, he said he had been feeling the love from back home and said he was hopefully converting some Leafs fans to Habs fans. Newfoundland and Labrador has fewer than 600,000 people, yet it has produced Dawson Mercer, Michael Ryder, Daniel Cleary, Ryane Clowe and Teddy Purcell.
He grew up idolizing Daniel Cleary, who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008, and Michael Ryder, who won it with the Boston Bruins in 2011. In 2022, Newhook brought the Cup home, thousands lined the streets for the parade, and he told kids from his old youth hockey club: “Keep dreaming, anything is possible.”
Montreal is still the last Canadian team left standing, and Newhook’s scoring has given that run a clear face: a Newfoundland forward with five playoff goals, two of them in Game 3, driving the Canadiens’ lead over Buffalo.
