Philadelphia PA (WGR 550) - I didn't see too many negatives in Brandon Montour's first game as a Sabre. He showed right away that he's a gifted passer who not only gets up into the play, but continues on into the zone.
I'm sure he was nervous on his first shift, but his first pass was right on the tape and Buffalo went up ice. It was noticeable because it was one of the few passes the Sabres put on a stick until they got down 2-0.
When the Sabres acquired him, we heard a lot about his offensive play, but he made a few good plays in the defensive end while others struggled. He hustled back after being up ice to disrupt a dangerous Flyers rush and then got his stick in the shooting lane to deflect a shot out of play.
Every time Montour went to the bench, he was always in communication with either his defensive partner or another D-man. Even on the ice, the kid was always talking.
Montour hasn't practiced with the team, but he still got a chance to play on the No. 2 power play unit. I thought he was quick to move the puck, but he got himself into trouble when he tried to carry it through three Flyers and turned it over at the blue line.
As I looked through my notes I see a lot of nice pass, tape-to-tape, got in the rush quickly, got his shot through.
His biggest error came on the Flyers' third goal when he let James van Riemsdyk get behind him. The big winger was wide open to tip a shot past Carter Hutton.
Just over two minutes later, Montour made up for it getting a pass up quickly to Conor Sheary. Evan Rodrigues ended up finding a wide open Casey Mittelstadt for a goal.
Travis Sanheim took advantage of an out-numbered situation to net Philadelphia's fourth goal. Montour was open in the left circle and was set up for a one-timer. The puck bounced and he whiffed. You can't blame the kid if he can't connect on a bouncing puck. Sometimes things just happen.
Overall, I liked his game. Montour played 23 shifts for 18:11. He played 2:10 on the power play and 1:11 on the penalty kill.
He had three shots on net and had seven shot attempts. Montour blocked two shots and had three hits.
He spent most of the game paired with Marco Scandella.
