MONTREAL — Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff didn’t have a lot to say before Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens.
After the Sabres completed their morning skate at Bell Centre, Ruff refused to confirm lineup changes and was blunt in answering questions. He’d spent the previous day talking and hearing about how heavily the Sabres had been outplayed in a 6-2 Game 3 loss. Even though the Sabres were down only 2-1 in the series, there was a sense of desperation heading into Game 4.
When asked about the mood of his team, Ruff said: “The mood is awesome. We’ve been challenged all year long. It’s another challenge. We know we haven’t played our best game, and we know we need to play our best tonight.”
It wasn’t perfect, but the Sabres played a much cleaner game and came away with a 3-2 win on a third-period power-play goal from forward Zach Benson on his 21st birthday. The series will now head back to Buffalo tied 2-2 with Game 5 on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres were all over the Canadiens early in this game. They scored on a crisp passing play when Josh Doan took a hit to get the puck to Josh Norris. Norris then slid it to defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who scored to make the score 1-0. By the first TV timeout, the Sabres had an 8-1 advantage in shots. They also thought they had a 2-0 lead. After Konsta Helenius drove the net and put a backhand attempt off Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobeš, Jack Quinn grabbed the rebound and lifted it into the goalie’s glove. Officials looked at the play and ruled the puck crossed the goal line while in Dobeš’ glove. But Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis challenged for goalie interference, and the situation room ruled that Helenius made contact with Dobeš’ stick, preventing him from making a play on the puck.
Instead of being down 2-0, the Canadiens got a chance to regroup during the lengthy reviews and heard their home crowd get back into the game. A little over two minutes later, Montreal forward Alex Newhook scored to tie it 1-1. The Canadiens got a power-play goal from Cole Caufield late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead despite Buffalo’s strong start.
Sabres center Tage Thompson tied the score in the second period when he dumped a puck off the corner boards and it bounced out front, off Dobeš and into the net. That set the stage for a dramatic third period. Benson’s goal came less than five minutes into the period, and the Canadiens had a strong push throughout the third. But the Sabres managed to hang on to get the series back to Buffalo at two games apiece.
With the loss, the Canadiens handed home-ice advantage in the series back to the Sabres, which was reminiscent of their failure to take hold of their previous series against the Lightning. In that series, they had an opportunity to go up 2-0 on the road, 3-1 at home and to close out the series in Game 6 at home. They lost all three games. Now, they can add this Game 4 loss to the Sabres to that list of missed playoff opportunities.
The Canadiens did not play poorly, and they carried the bulk of the play in the third period as they tried to tie it up, but as they travel to Buffalo for Game 5, it will be difficult for them to avoid the feeling that they could have been in a much better position than they find themselves in now.
Here’s what we saw in Game 4:
Sabres’ lack of discipline
Pretty much the last thing any team wants to do is give Montreal’s dangerous power play extra opportunities.
So, it goes without saying that the Sabres’ lack of discipline Tuesday night was absolutely brutal.
And the guys taking the penalties, captain Rasmus Dahlin (a pair of penalties), Jason Zucker, Thompson, Bowen Byram (two penalties, including a four-minute double minor), those guys should know better.
Thompson’s cross-checking penalty on Kaiden Guhle late in the first period could perhaps be seen as a soft call, but why did Thompson even put himself in that position to begin with? Why was he looking to make contact on that play, 200 feet from his end, when Guhle doesn’t have the puck?
The result was a power-play goal from Caufield.
On the flip side, credit to Buffalo’s penalty kill. Sure, the Habs got their looks, and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was probably their best penalty killer at times with some key saves. But no matter how you spin it, the Sabres limited the damage to one power-play goal against and were especially impressive killing off Byram’s four-minute double minor.
“He was phenomenal,’’ Thompson said of Luukkonen. “Huge saves at key times in the game that gave us momentum. Their power play is very dangerous. And he was our best killer tonight. He made some huge saves. … Sometimes you can get a little scramble in the D-zone or on the kill, and a big save settles you down. He did that a few times for us tonight.’’
Still, the Sabres cannot be taking these penalties. It’s a recipe for disaster against Montreal. And it shows a lack of composure. — Pierre LeBrun, NHL senior columnist
Missed opportunities
The Canadiens did get a power-play goal from Caufield, but going 1-for-7 for the game was not good enough.
Byram’s double minor for needlessly high-sticking Alexandre Texier at 18:31 of the second period, with the score tied 2-2, was a golden opportunity to take control of the game, and they squandered it.
The Canadiens bobbled some pucks and did not generate nearly enough shot volume on the four-minute power play, which was emblematic of many of the other man-advantage situations the Sabres continued handing them.
The Sabres seemed intent on giving the game to the Canadiens. The Canadiens were simply unable to accept the gift. — Arpon Basu, Canadiens writer
Thompson gets a fluky goal
Thompson’s second-period goal to tie the score 2-2 was a wacky one. With the Sabres on the power play, Thompson had the puck near center ice and ripped it into the corner. The puck bounced off the Zamboni door and shot directly out front, where it hit Dobeš and went in.
Both Thompson and the Sabres’ power play have struggled in this series, and that was a bounce they badly needed. After having a goal overturned earlier in the game due to a goaltender interference call, the Sabres got some puck luck to go their way. Buffalo otherwise didn’t generate many chances on what was a four-minute power play, but Thompson’s goal got them back even.
That corner of the Bell Centre is notorious for bounces like that, with the Zamboni door regularly bouncing pucks toward the middle of the ice. Dobeš probably should have known that. After Luukkonen allowed a goal on a bouncing puck from center ice against the Bruins in Round 1, the hockey gods evened things out for the Sabres. — Matthew Fairburn, Sabres writer
Sabres lineup changes pay off
The Sabres made three lineup changes ahead of this game. Luukkonen took over the net, rookie forward Helenius made his playoff debut on the third line and veteran defenseman Luke Schenn took over for Logan Stanley on the third pair.
All three moves paid off. Luukkonen made some massive saves in this game, especially with the Sabres playing on the penalty kill so often. At one point in the second period, Luukkonen made consecutive cross-ice saves on Caufield to keep the score 2-1.
By the end of the second period, Helenius had two shots on goal and was 4-for-4 in the faceoff circle. He also would have had an assist on the goal that was overturned. Schenn played a limited role but got almost three minutes of short-handed ice time and was steady.
Earlier in the series, Ruff put Benson on the top power-play unit, and that paid off with Benson’s third-period power-play goal. The Sabres needed some in-series adjustments and got the right ones. — Fairburn
