Montreal, Quebec (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, 4-2, but it was a very even, 50/50 game.
Montreal had the better of the play in the first period because they had a good plan for Buffalo’s breakouts which kept the Sabres hemmed in for much of the period.
On the plus side, the few times they did get into the zone on Jakub Dobes, they were still around the net and being hard at the crease. Buffalo only managed four shots and a post by Ramsus Dahlin.
The Sabres got out of the period only down 1-0. It was a goal that shouldn’t have happened. There was a loose puck in front of the net and Peyton Krebs had the opportunity to clear the puck to safety, but he fanned on his attempt leaving the puck for Oliver Kapanen who made no mistake beating Alex Lyon.
Lindy Ruff made adjustments for the second period and it was Buffalo’s turn to spend time in the offensive zone, but Dobes was up to the task making some very good saves.
The Sabres held Montreal to four shots and tied the game when Zach Benson and Jiri Kulich put in some hard work along the wall. Benson emerged with the puck, found Kulich open heading to the net and the youngster calmly waited for Dobes to open his pads just a little for the backhand goal.
Early in the third period, Buffalo got into “stand around and watch the puck” mode and Montreal took the lead. Noah Dobson came in from the point and held onto the puck until Lyon sprawled. On a play like that, somebody had to grab the backdoor player in the crease. Lyon has to be confident that his teammates will be there and have his back. Two Sabres were standing there, but all they were doing was puck watching. Neither Kulich or Mattias Samuelsson picked up Juraj Slafkovsky in the crease and he easily tapped the puck into the wide open net. That’s the kind of defense the team played last year and has been better for the most part this year.
Probably for the first time all season, Lyon gave up a goal that he’d want back. Lane Hutson took an unscreened soft wrister that the Sabres goaltender just missed and it was 3-1.
To their credit, the Sabres weren’t detoured and kept the pressure on the Canadiens defense and Dobes. The Sabres got in on the forecheck and worked hard to win battles getting pucks and players to the net. It paid off when Jack Quinn carried the puck towards the crease and found Tyson Kozak in the crease for a tap-in.
Ruff pulled the goalie and the Sabres continued to pressure for the tying goal until Jake Evans slid in the empty netter.
Dobes had to make 14 saves in the third and he’s now 3-0-0 for Montreal, while last year’s star Sam Montembeault has struggled going 2-2-0.
Losing this game really wouldn’t have been a big deal had the Sabres not lost their first three games. The Sabres can’t play pretty well and be on the road playing a team evenly and not even get a point out of the game. Being 2-4-0 makes this loss more noticeable.
Dahlin played 26:52 in the game. The captain had four shots on goal and 15 shot attempts. Tage Thompson had 10 shot attempts as the Sabres had 73 shot attempts to 58 for Montreal.
Buffalo is one of four teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with four points. In the NHL only the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames have fewer points than the Sabres.
Zach Metsa played in his first NHL game and was spotted in his ice-time. He played 9:02, had a key blocked shot early in the game and did a nice job of recovering on some plays where he looked like he was beaten, but wasn’t.
Ruff’s fascination with Mason Geertsen has to end. The Sabres called up Noah Oslund and he sat in the press box so Geertsen could play 5:27. Ruff can’t really use him because he’s not an NHL player and he can’t get into a fight because other teams feel Geertsen is more valuable to them on the ice than in the penalty box. It was a huge missed opportunity to give a very good prospect some NHL time.
On Tuesday the Sabres sent Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen down to the Rochester Americans for a rehab assignment. Luukkonen has been practicing and is ready to play, but he has only played one period since April, so he needs to get into a few games before playing for Buffalo.
Buffalo is off on Tuesday and will host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
Related
