Two in the Box

Buffalo’s wild ride is over. 

There will be time to lament their game seven loss to Montreal later. Maybe as soon as Tuesday. But for now we can spend time reflecting on a six-month run that reconnected the team to the city, 

There’s a specific type of energy that accompanies the Sabres when they’re rolling. The weather turns and fans are pour out of bars, metro trains and the odd tailgate to converge on the arena. Social media may have amplified the game day antics, but the energy hasn’t changed. In fact, the dregs of the drought may have helped to further galvanize the fanbase around this postseason run. 

Usually, a second round exit would fade into the ether, but I suspect this season will linger. Not just because of the weight of a 14 year playoff drought but because of Buffalo’s most recent failures. Roll the tape back to Kevyn Adams’ palm trees press conference, or the listless Answers Are In The Room loss against the Canadiens. The Sabres felt miles away from competitiveness until that December road trip and Adams’ firing. Whatever it was that lit a fire under this group, the payoff was tremendous. This wasn’t quite at the level of the early 2000s Conference Finals runs, or the Hasek-era teams, but there was a buzz the team and fanbase had sorely lacked. 

It’s all to play for on Monday.

The Sabres charged back from a 3-1 deficit to send their series with the Canadiens back to Buffalo after an 8-3 drubbing in Montreal on Saturday.

Once again, the Sabres started fast. Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring 32 seconds into the game and even after Arber Xhekaj tied the game one minute later, the Sabres played on the front foot from the opening puck drop. They carried play for large stretches, but were let down by their goaltedning.

Alex Lyon barely made it 10 minutes, getting beat three times and only registering one save on the night. It looked bleak after Lyon made way for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen but Jason Zucker registered a power play tally to bring the Sabres within a goal at the end of the first.

Yet another dud on home ice set has put the Sabres backs against the wall. They trail the Canadiens 3-2 and will head into a pressure cooker in the Bell Centre in need of a win to extend their season on Saturday. 

Thursday’s game started well enough. Buffalo got a pinball goal off the skate of Jason Zucker and the leg of Mike Matheson to open the scoring. It was yet another quick start for the Sabres, who have made a habit of that throughout the playoffs. Not unlike game three, this one didn’t stick. The flow of the first period was a little wacky. Both teams scored on goals that banked in off an unsuspecting Canadien and the flurry of scoring after the six minute mark felt like something you’d see in a random game in November as opposed to the playoffs. 

This doesn’t matter much in the big picture considering how this game played out, but I can’t help but wonder how Thursday night goes if Conor Timmins and Josh Norris don’t boot that puck for the first Canadiens goal. Assuming the rest of the first period stays the same (and without going too far down a rabbit hole) do the Sabres carry a different level of confidence into intermission if they’re leading 3-1 instead of 3-2? 

The Sabres delivered an answer after getting badly outplayed in back-to-back games. Buffalo played with purpose and put Montreal on the back foot early in the first period. They were rewarded with an early goal driven through none other than the Benson-Norris-Doan line and looked to be poised to pile on but Jack Quinn’s tally was wiped on after a goalie interference review. 

I’ll be interested to see what the reaction is to the review on Quinn’s goal. It was nearly a 10 minute delay of the game to first determine whether or not the puck crossed the line on Quinn’s shot and then to determine whether or not there was goaltender interference. The review process wasn’t helped by the fact that ESPN’s “rules analyst” couldn’t articulate what was being reviewed. The entire process was a mystery as no one knew if the league was looking at Quinn’s stick, and whether it pushed Dobeš’ glove into the net, or Konsta Helenius who made contact with Dobeš as he drove the net. I’d like to know if Martin St. Louis even knew which player’s actions were under scrutiny given how the play unfolded, with Kaiden Guhle doing just as much to impact Dobeš as the two Sabres. It may just be water under the bridge, but the dice roll nature of the challenge and the potential for two players to be under scrutiny by the situation room, really doesn’t help build faith in a system very few fans and media have any respect for. To borrow from Joe Yerdon’s reaction, it’s awfully hard to square that Dobeš was interfered with when he still managed to glove the puck. If he was truly interfered with would he have been capable of making that near save? 

That’s far too much time to devote to the NHL’s review system. The offside review only serves to over-litigate narrow plays that don’t affect the flow of the game and goaltender interference is one step from becoming the old foot-in-crease rule. It benefits no one and it’s a hallmark of a league that regularly steps on rakes. Luckily the Sabres weren’t too badly penalized by the call. The delay zapped the energy from their confident start, but Tage Thompson was rewarded with a Forum Ghosts level goal in the second, so we are fortunate to not need to hear about how that call cost the Sabres a chance to get back into the series. 

The Sabres spent the majority of game two chasing the Canadiens and, therefore, the game. They barely did the former in game three, as they were badly outclassed by Montreal, falling to a 2-1 series deficit. 

Game one feels like ancient history after the last two games. Montreal jumped on the Sabres early in game two and stayed in the driver’s seat throughout. The game script was largely the same in game three despite Tage Thompson’s opening goal. The Canadiens’ forward group has given the Sabres fits, Buffalo hasn’t had any answers in the defensive zone once the Habs go to work on the cycle. That’s been exacerbated by sloppy play, particularly on exits and 50/50 pucks in dangerous areas. Buffalo’s lack of detail followed them to Montreal and combined with Montreal’s success on the cycle, made the opening period of game three look especially scrambly for the Sabres. 

Just like their first round series, the Sabres hold a 1-0 lead after taking game one at home by a score of 4-2. 

The script was different than the Bruins series, however. Buffalo drew first blood in the opening five minutes after, who else, Zach Benson pressured Lane Hutson and pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone and dished around a sprawling Noah Dobson to set up Josh Doan for a net-side dunk. Buffalo made it 2-0 about 10 minutes later and led 4-1 before the Habs clawed back to 4-2 late in the second. 

The change in pace from the Bruins series was evident from the opening puck drop. Both teams had rush opportunities and there was far more room to operate in the neutral zone. We’ll see if that persists, especially after Buffalo generated a pair of tallies off the rush. Kirby Dach’s goal also came in transition, albeit off a clumsy turnover from Tage Thompson, and Montreal had their share of rush opportunities as well. I’m not sure if we’ll see both teams try to choke each other out in the neutral zone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both coaches try and refine how their teams are operating in the neutral zone for game two.