Sabres controversy erupts after player’s cheating helped Buffalo win

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Josh Norris hit the ice Saturday night like he’d been shot. Mike Matheson’s stick barely grazed his helmet. The Habs paid the price anyway.

The Sabres turned that four-minute power play into the swing sequence of an 8-3 Buffalo win in Game 6. Series tied 3-3. Game 7 looms Monday.

Matheson took 4 PIM on the call and finished a -2 in 22:05 of ice time. Norris, the player who sold the contact, drew the double minor and added an assist on the power play.

Buffalo cashed in on the second half of the penalty. From there, the floodgates opened on the Bell Centre ice. Jakub Dobes never recovered. Momentum completely changed side.

The frustration in Montreal is real. Martin St-Louis watched his team get pulled into a tilt they were controlling, all because a forward chose theatre over toughness.

Tage Thompson buried 1 goal and added 3 helpers. Rasmus Dahlin posted a 5-point night from the blue line. Jack Quinn tossed in 2 power-play goals just to twist the knife.

Lindy Ruff leans on his power play to flip a series Montreal had by the throat

The numbers tell you who showed up. Dahlin now has 13 points in 12 playoff games. Thompson sits at 15 points in 12. Norris, the man at the center of the storm, has 3 points in 9.

Is embellishment part of the game? Sure. But when a 4-minute power play is fabricated by a guy chewing his own lip, that’s a different conversation. Officials cannot keep falling for it.

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Norris went minus-5 across his previous regular-season stretch before this series. The Sabres aren’t winning Game 6 because of him. They’re winning because he sold the call that cracked the dam.

For Montreal, the consequence is heavier than a loss. Carrier took 12 PIM. Evans took 12. Dach took 10. The Habs lost their composure once the call went up.

Martin St-Louis now has 48 hours to clean up the discipline, settle his bench, and convince his room the Sabres got handed Game 6, not that they took it.

Game 7 is in Buffalo. The Sabres ride a 26-10-5 home mark in the regular season into a winner-take-all night. Norris will be on the ice. The cameras will be watching closer this time.

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Sabres controversy erupts after player’s cheating helped Buffalo win

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