The Buffalo Sabres acknowledge they must improve their puck management significantly as their second-round playoff series shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Sunday night, tied at one win each with the Canadiens.
Buffalo played a physical style against Montreal in Game 2 on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough as the Canadiens routed the Atlantic Division champions 5-1. The Sabres delivered 44 hits on the Canadiens, who responded with just 18. Mattias Samuelsson led all skaters with 10 hits, while Tage Thompson added six.
Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky noted that most of those hits came after the plays had developed.
“I feel like all of their hits happen after the plays,” said the top-line winger. “Especially me, I mean, I made a play, and then, three seconds after, I got hit. … Sometimes, you’ve got to take a hit to make a play.”
Thompson struggled in the loss, finishing with a minus-4 rating and turning over the puck after falling to the ice, which led to Alexandre Carrier’s third-period goal that made the score 4-1 and put the game out of reach.
“I just wasn’t executing,” Thompson said. “I think everything I touched turned into disaster tonight. So, tough one. I’ve got to be better.”
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff added, “Three or four of the goals were just the result of bad puck play. You just can’t beat yourself.”
Coach Martin St. Louis and his Canadiens return to Quebec with all the momentum after taking home-ice advantage from the Sabres, who finished with 109 points—second only to the Carolina Hurricanes’ 113 in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Newhook and Mike Matheson scored within the first five minutes of Game 2, tallying less than three minutes apart as Buffalo’s defense and goaltender Alex Lyon collapsed. Newhook added another early in the second period. It was the fast start Montreal needed to even the series and carry momentum home after a grueling seven-game first-round victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Goalie Jakub Dobes, who stopped 181 of 196 shots (.923 save percentage) against the Lightning, made 28 saves on 29 shots against the Sabres on Friday. The Czech netminder said the whole team was inspired by an “unbelievable” pregame speech from St. Louis but declined to reveal its content.
However, second-line center Jake Evans let the secret out.
“He just said it’s going to be a war out there and we’ve got to play like it,” Evans told Sportsnet. “I don’t know if it was meant to be more physical, but we were all just (mentally) dialed in from the start.”
Montreal held a blocked-shot edge of 18-11, with defensemen Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson posting nearly half of them (five and three, respectively). Matheson’s goal was the game-winner, but the 2012 first-round pick of the Florida Panthers (23rd overall) credited Dobes for his usual impact.
“He brings a lot of energy to our team,” said Matheson, a native of Pointe-Claire, Quebec, who has one goal, one assist, and 12 penalty minutes in nine playoff games this postseason. “He kind of exudes a lot of swagger into our lineup.”
Sabres forward Sam Carrick, who has been out with an arm injury since fighting New York Islanders captain Anders Lee on March 31, is “on the cusp” of returning, according to Ruff, after practicing on Tuesday.
