In the moments after the Buffalo Sabres finished off their 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, coach Lindy Ruff, who is always going to shoot it straight, admitted his team was not completely on top of its game Wednesday night at raucous KeyBank Center.
“I think we can get a lot better,” Ruff said of the Eastern Conference semifinal Game 1 victory. “That includes taking time and space away. We did a great job with that in the Boston series. This game was a little bit of a step back. We gave them too much ice. We didn’t confront that first pass.
“The Boston series, it was just bang, bang, bang. We took ice away. We didn’t give them any time. We were on top of them. But I’m going to give (the Canadiens) some credit. This is a good team. And they just beat a good team.”
The Sabres managed a mere 16 shots on goal, just one in the third period, but four of those found their way into the net and it was more than enough as the Canadiens – who play the same fast-skating and energetic style as Buffalo does – could not match them.
“I don’t think it was anywhere near our best or their best, so I think Game 2 will be a lot different,” Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram said.
Here are my observations:
Two power play goals in one game
It was business as usual for Buffalo’s power play when Montreal’s Lane Hutson took a tripping penalty just 30 seconds into the game. The Sabres looked pathetic on their first opportunity, continuing a five-week trend, and this early failure – when they didn’t even get set up in the zone until there were about 25 seconds left in the man advantage – made them 1-for-25 in the postseason and 1-for-47 since April 1.
But then, in what felt almost miraculous, the Sabres were awarded two more power plays, one later in the first period and one in the second, and they scored on both. Seriously, after scoring one man-advantage goal in their previous 13 games, they scored two in a span of about 15 minutes of game clock time.
“Maybe keep asking if we’re going to keep scoring now,” Ryan McLeod joked with reporters who had been riding the Sabres for their lack of success. “Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. But it’s a process of building it and getting your look. So I think, we got them tonight.”
On the first, which gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead, Josh Doan won a battle in front on a rebound, slid the puck to the left side to Zach Benson and he slipped a beautiful pass across the crease to McLeod who was all alone at the right post and didn’t miss despite a tough angle.
On the second, the Canadiens’ Mike Matheson had a chance to clear but fired it right into McLeod near the blue line. He dished the puck to Byram who had a surprisingly wide open lane through the slot and lasered one through a screen that beat Jakub Dobes just inside the left post.
In a series that will feature more skating and offensive play than their first-round knockout of the Bruins, the Sabres are going to need to be sharp on special teams. Montreal scored a power-play goal of its own as Nick Suzuki cut the Buffalo lead to 2-1 late in the first period, and despite keeping the puck in the Sabres zone for almost the entirety of its other man advantage in the second, the Canadiens did not score.
The Sabres fourth line was outstanding
Buffalo’s top line was invisible most of the night. Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs did not register a point and combined for one shot on goal, that by Tuch. Thompson, the Sabres’ leading scorer in the regular season with 41 goals, played 21 shifts and had 18:28 of ice time and the only time you noticed him was when he turned the puck over at center ice and the ensuing Montreal rush resulted in its second goal by Kirby Dach at 16:31 of the second period.
However, they were picked up by the bottom threesome of Jordan Greenway, Beck Malenstyn and Tyson Kozak. They forechecked the Canadiens into oblivion and Greenway was a force as he had a team-high five hits and most importantly scored the Sabres third goal.
“It’s always great to score,” Greenway said. “Second round of the playoffs. I don’t know what the score was at that point. It’s been a journey, of course, injury-wise, but there are a lot of guys who have gone through injuries. It’s behind me. I’m just focused on going out there and doing what I can to help the team.”
On that play, Greenway corralled a pass up the boards from Mattias Samuelsson, carried into the zone and as Kozak drove to the net, Greenway used his screen to rip a wrist shot that ticked off Dobes’ glove and found the far side of the net. If there’s anything that will demoralize an opponent, it’s when you get scored on by the fourth line.
“I was out for some time, obviously, and I figured it would take a little time to get to where I want to be and I’m definitely working toward that,” Greenway said. “Did I see this coming? I thought I would be able to improve my game the more games we play.”
Zach Benson is becoming a star
While the big guns have been quiet lately, Benson has been the Sabres’ best player and he was again in this game.
In addition to his slick play on the first power-play goal by McLeod, Benson was the key man on Buffalo’s first goal 4:31 into the game.
When Hutson tripped at center ice, Benson stole the puck and moved in 3-on-1 with linemates Josh Doan and Josh Norris. Benson carried down the left side and when Montreal defenseman Noah Dobson slid to the ice, Benson showed great patience before passing across the goal mouth to Doan who had an easy tap-in.
All night, as has been the case for a while, Benson was a pest in every zone as he doled out two hits in addition to this two assists, and he hounded whoever he found himself in coverage with.
“He works his butt off,” Byram said of Benson. “Him and his line just hunt pucks and make it tough on another team. I think we’ve all been impressed with him and his line throughout the playoffs and we’re going to need them to keep contributing.”
Alex Lyon outplayed Jakub Dobes
Both goaltenders played very well in the first round, but in Game 1 it was no contest. The Sabres managed only 16 shots on goal and four of them beat Dobes, giving him a save percentage of 75% which is untenable.
Lyon stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced, and the goal by Dach was a bit fluky as he stopped the initial shot but while he was falling to the ice, Dach somehow got his stick on the rebound and flipped it past Lyon.
With Buffalo content to play prevent defense the entire third period, getting just one shot on goal, Montreal spent a big chunk of time in front of Lyon and he had to make several big stops on the 11 shots the Canadiens got on net to preserve Buffalo’s two-goal lead.
Faceoffs were still a problem
Sam Carrick, who has missed the last five weeks with an arm injury, returned to practice this week and while he didn’t play Wednesday, it looks like he’ll be in the lineup soon and the Sabres need him desperately.
He’s probably the best faceoff man on the team, which is one of the main reasons why he was acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline, and in the first seven postseason games they’ve played, the faceoff dot has been a black hole for the Sabres.
They were 15th out of 16 teams in faceoff winning percentage during the first round at 43.8% and were even worse in Game 1, winning just 19 of 51 which computes to a sickly 37.3%. The lack of success hasn’t bitten them yet as they’ve won five of seven playoff games, but Montreal was third-best on draws in the first round at 55% and you have to believe at some point that discrepancy is going to hurt Buffalo.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: 5 things that stood out in the Sabres’ statement win over Canadiens
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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