MONTREAL — Lindy Ruff decided to keep the Buffalo Sabres off the ice between Games 5 and 6. The coach knew the pressure his players were under as they faced elimination and wanted to do whatever he could to ease it. When the team woke up in Montreal on Saturday, Ruff and the players had a quick film review and meeting.
“Watched the video, got the crap out of our system,” Sabres center Josh Norris said. “Watched it, and then you move on and go out there and do what you talked about. There’s nothing really left to be said.”
The Sabres did just that, beating the Canadiens 8-3 inside Montreal’s rowdy Bell Centre to force a Game 7 on Monday back in Buffalo.
Canadiens fans were ready to party on Saturday night. The holiday weekend brought even more people into the city. Thousands of fans were outside the Bell Centre watching the game, and the 20,962 fans filled the arena with ear-splitting noise before puck drop. Montreal police warned fans outside the building not to bring any pyrotechnics or fireworks, concerned about the kind of scene a Game 6 win would create in the city’s streets.
But the Sabres, who came into this game 4-1 on the road in the playoffs, scored seven unanswered goals to thwart that party and keep their season alive with another road win. Rasmus Dahlin scored 32 seconds into the game on a nifty backhand after weaving through Montreal’s zone. But that lead didn’t last long. The Canadiens scored on their first shot of the game, a one-timer from Arber Xhekaj off an offensive zone faceoff.
That goal ended up being just the start of the problems for Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon. Montreal scored on the power play 8:14 into the first period when Ivan Demidov ripped a one-timer by Lyon’s glove. Moments later, Jake Evans scored a short-handed goal off the rush that went right through Lyon. That’s when Ruff decided to pull Lyon, who stopped just one of the four shots he faced.
The Sabres didn’t fold, though. Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson took a double minor for high-sticking, and Jason Zucker scored on the power play to get the Sabres back within one going into the first intermission. Then they broke the game open in the second period. Zach Benson scored a minute into the second period. Then, Jack Quinn got a power-play goal, and Konsta Helenius scored to make it four straight goals for Buffalo. Quinn added another power-play goal in the third to make it 6-3. Tage Thompson’s empty-netter made the score 7-3, and Zach Metsa added Buffalo’s eighth goal with 2:13 left in the game.
For the Canadiens, it is a repeat of the scenario from the first round, when they had a chance to close out the Tampa Bay Lightning on home ice in Game 6 and failed to do so, forcing them to go back to Tampa and win Game 7.
The difference is that the Canadiens played probably their best game of the first round in that Game 6, and Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was the only thing preventing them from closing it out. That was obviously not the case in this Game 6 on Saturday night.
Buffalo will now play in a Game 7 for the first time this postseason. The lopsided nature of the Sabres’ three losses in this series would have made it easy to count them out. But as they’ve done most of the season, they found a way to handle the adversity. Now, they’re going to play in a Game 7 with a trip to the Eastern Conference final on the line.
“I think you’re always trying to reach different goals you have as a team,” Norris said before the game. “One was obviously getting into the playoffs. Then, once we realized how good of a team we were and could be, I think you just kind of run with it and you have different standards and expectations every night.
“We’ve done a great job of handling adversity and not listening to people on the outside and having it just be all about the guys in that room and what we’re doing. Are we proud of what we’ve done the last five months? For sure. But we’re definitely not satisfied.”
Lineup changes pay off for Buffalo
Ruff went back to Lyon in net for Game 6, and it didn’t work out. After the Sabres got off to a fast start and scored the first goal of the game, Lyon couldn’t help them hang onto that lead. Lyon made just one save on the four shots he faced. All three of the goals were shots he could have stopped. When Evans scored a short-handed goal off the rush, Ruff pulled Lyon for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
It’s tough to fault Ruff for turning to Lyon. He has been the better goalie for the Sabres in the playoffs, and Luukkonen was fresh off a game in which he gave up five goals on 23 shots. Lyon, meanwhile, has an .814 save percentage in his last four appearances in this series after posting a .923 save percentage in Buffalo’s Game 1 win. Luukkonen came in and helped calm the game down for the Sabres. Luukkonen made a few big saves in the second period to keep the score tied before Buffalo eventually took the lead.
Ruff’s quick hook paid off, and so did his other lineup changes. Benson was on a line with Norris and Thompson. Ryan McLeod centered Josh Doan and Alex Tuch. Helenius centered Jason Zucker and Jack Quinn. And Peyton Krebs was the pivot on the fourth line between Beck Malenstyn and Jordan Greenway. Ruff also replaced Luke Schenn with Metsa on the blue line. Those were the most significant changes Ruff had made to the Sabres’ lineup all season, and it had the desired effect. Ruff keeps finding a way to push the right buttons with this team. — Matthew Fairburn, Sabres writer
This was Game 5 in reverse
The only difference, really, was that Lyon got pulled for Luukkonen.
Otherwise, the Canadiens were stopped on their first shot and scored on their next three in Game 6; the Sabres were stopped on their first shot and scored on three straight against Jakub Dobeš in Game 5. Despite being down 3-2 in the first period of Game 5, the Canadiens were carrying much of the play in a road game — same with the Sabres in the first period of Game 6. Even the shots were nearly exactly opposite at one point in the first period.
And much like the Canadiens did in Game 5, the Sabres overcame early shaky goaltending to gather momentum and carry it to a lead by the midway point of the second period that they never relinquished.
The similarities continued in the third period when Quinn scored the Sabres’ sixth goal of the game on a power play, just as Demidov did in Game 5. Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis pulled his goalie with 7:27 left in the third, a bit earlier than Ruff pulled his goalie in Game 5, but not by much.
Neither was a glowing example of how to win in the playoffs, but the Sabres deserve full marks for sticking with it and taking over the game. — Arpon Basu, Canadiens writer
Road warriors
The road team is now 4-2 in this series, continuing an overall trend for both teams in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Sabres and Canadiens are a combined 10-3 in the postseason away from home. Montreal went 3-1 in Tampa in the opening round, and the Sabres went a perfect 3-0 in Boston. And both are 2-1 on the road in this second-round series.
Conversely, both teams are a combined 4-8 at home — the Sabres 2-4 in their barn, and the Canadiens now also 2-4 at the Bell Centre in these playoffs. That is pretty bizarre, given how fantastic both atmospheres have been throughout the playoffs.
The Canadiens went to Tampa and stole a Game 7 in the last round. They’ll need to do it again on Monday in Buffalo. You have to wonder whether Ruff will opt for his players to stay in a local hotel on Sunday night to re-create the road routine. Tampa head coach Jon Cooper did that for his team ahead of last round’s Game 7. They lost that night, but they played a heck of a game and got goalied by Dobeš. — Pierre LeBrun, NHL senior columnist
Rough night for Canadiens’ top pairing
The defensive pairing of Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier has had an excellent series, but they were not at their best in Game 6.
Matheson was still serving a double-minor for high-sticking Norris with a 3-1 lead just past the midway point of the first period when Zucker scored to make it 3-2 and give the Sabres some life.
On Benson’s goal that tied it up 3-3 at 1:00 of the second period, Carrier inexplicably allowed Benson to get behind him on the entry, giving him a free lane to the net, and then lost Benson in coverage, allowing him to tuck it in an open side completely unbothered.
The pair was also on the ice for Dahlin’s goal on the game’s opening shift.
After being on the ice for three goals at five-on-five in the first five games of the series, to be on for two in Game 6 was an uncharacteristic night for the Canadiens’ most reliable defensive pairing. — Basu
Shaky goaltending
The Sabres have switched goalies in back-to-back games, and Dobeš has given up 12 goals for Montreal in his last three games.
It’s safe to say the Sabres probably have bigger concerns in goal than the Canadiens, though Luukkonen shut the door Saturday night after relieving Lyon.
After a sensational playoff run, including his Game 7 heroics in Tampa, Dobeš has looked more human of late. Without question, the defensive coverage in front of him Saturday night was an important reason, too. After giving up Buffalo’s sixth goal Saturday night, Dobeš was pulled for rookie Jacob Fowler, a move likely meant to help Dobeš reset for Game 7.
Still, the Sabres scoring 12 goals in three games on Dobeš is not nothing. — LeBrun
Power, Quinn step up
A lot of the Sabres’ best players were clicking in this game. Thompson had three assists. Benson created scoring chances throughout the game and finished with a goal and an assist. And Dahlin had a five-point game, including a highlight-reel goal. You can add Owen Power to that list, even though he didn’t get on the scoresheet. Power was a game-time decision after he crashed into the boards and bent his leg awkwardly at the end of Game 5. He gutted through it, playing his typical heavy workload. At one point in the third period on Saturday night, the Sabres had a 6-0 advantage in high-danger chances when he was on the ice at five-on-five. Considering he was playing in pain, that was quite the performance.
Meanwhile, Quinn came into this game without a single goal in the playoffs. He picked a good time to get rolling, scoring twice on the power play. He showed off his quick release on both shots, beating Dobeš with a snap shot to tie the score in the second period and ripping a one-timer to put the Sabres up 6-3 in the third period. With the way the Sabres’ top scorers have struggled during this series, they badly needed some secondary scoring. Quinn delivered. — Fairburn
