Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres returned home on Thursday night to welcome the Montreal Canadiens to town for the first time this season. The Sabres returned to the friendly confines of KeyBank Center for the first time since Game 2 of the season against the Florida Panthers.
Montreal had a 3-4 record coming into the game, which wouldn't appear to be the worst record. However, due to the competitive nature of the Atlantic Division, they find themselves in last place.
The Sabres controlled most of the first period of play, and looked to have a lot more energy than they did against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. Despite the Sabres outshooting the Canadiens, 14-11, it was the visitors that struck first, as Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher made it 1-0 for his team.
The second period was much of the same for the Sabres, who tied the game just 31 seconds into the period on a power play goal from Jeff Skinner. The rest of the period remained quiet, although both teams certainly had their opportunities on the power play.
The final frame wasn't very good to the Sabres.
Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle scored his first NHL goal early on to give his team the 2-1 lead. Then after many scoring chances, Sabres forward Dylan Cozens finally broke through to tie the game at 2-2 halfway through the period.
However, things came crumbling down for Buffalo when Canadiens forward Josh Anderson scored with less than four minutes remaining in regulation to help lift Montreal to victory.
Buffalo played a very fast-paced game with good energy after a tough loss on Tuesday, but still couldn't come up with the win.
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Here are this game's three observations:
1.) Great energy
Coming off a week long West Coast trip and only having one day off in-between flying home and playing, it wouldn't be expected that a team would play with much speed. The Sabres did quite the opposite against the Canadiens on Thursday night.
Buffalo controlled the game right from the get-go, and ended up out shooting the visitors, 45-34.
2.) Sloppy play
While the team had great energy, they weren't able translate that to smooth play on the ice. It was as if the players' legs were on Eastern Time and their hands were still on Pacific Time.
There were far too many turnovers from the Sabres on their power play opportunities, in particular. The team did manage to score one power play goal in their four chances, but control of the puck was never really there when they had the man advantage.
Even strength wasn't that great for Buffalo, either. They struggled to effectively enter the offensive zone and control play for most of the game. While they did outshoot the Canadiens, these shots came quickly and without sustained pressure afterwards.
3.) Overcomplicated
Time-and-time again, the Sabres try to look for the highlight reel passing plays that lead up to an amazing goal. There were a lot of opportunities in this game where one or two passes would have been enough, but one pass too many led to a turnover.
The team needs to take this upcoming day off that they have to get back to basics and focus on not overcomplicating their game. If they can get back to playing their game, confidence will go back up and the results will show.
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The Sabres will face the Chicago Blackhawks next, as they come to town on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. ET faceoff. Pregame coverage starts with Brian Koziol at 6 p.m. ET on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.
