Confidence was a word that was used in the locker room following the Buffalo Sabres' 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
There was talk that the team lacked confidence as the game went on and was one of the reasons for the second straight loss out of the 10-day bye week.
Jake McCabe thought the team was lacking confidence throughout the later stages of the game. Head coach Ralph Krueger thought that, “more than anything, there was a good reaction the last couple of days into the loss from Ottawa, and I think what he probably means is, is in the game we were playing and trying to force ourselves back into it after that and I thought there was a recovery in the third period, but again we did not create the scoring chances we needed to.” Buffalo was outshot 22-10 over the final 40 minutes of regulation.
The Sabres came out with a much better start on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday. Krueger believes that the team, “came out of the gate as we had hoped for as far as... we had a lot of movement, very confident on the puck, lots of support, and probably didn’t create as much offensively as we would have liked to from all of that control.” It took Montreal more than 10 minutes into the game to record their first shot on goal. The visitors gained no traction through the neutral zone or in the offensive end in the first half of the opening period.
Special teams were a major issue, and maybe the biggest reason for Tuesday’s loss. However, on Thursday, it was the special teams in the opening 20 minutes that helped Buffalo hold a 1-0 advantage. Not only did Jack Eichel score his 30th goal of the season thanks to a power play tally, the Sabres did not allow any good scoring chances on the Canadiens’ lone power play of the night.
Jeff Skinner had a chance late in the first to make it a 2-0 Sabres lead thanks to a 2-on-1 chance with Michael Frolik, but hit the goal post. That was a big moment in the game, a spot where 2-0 heading into the first intermission is a much better cushion than just a one-goal difference. He has now gone 13 games without a goal, and thanks to an injury, nearly two months without a goal.
I am a firm believer that as soon as he gets one, there will be a bunch to follow in short order. But, that first one will be the hardest part.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Brendan Gallagher scored the two Montreal goals in the middle stanza that ended up being the difference in the game. Kovalchuk showed a glimpse of the hands that he still has with a perfect shot into the top corner of the net after finding a bouncing puck. Gallagher’s goal was much easier as he was able to find the front of the net without any Sabres defenseman getting in his way.
That is one thing the blue and gold will try to clean up as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon.