Montreal, QC (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Plan accordingly on Monday night, people. With their season on the line, the Buffalo Sabres righted the ship and turned an early 3-1 deficit on its head at Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens. Seven (!!) unanswered Sabres goals fueled an 8-3 Buffalo victory in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Just like Game Three, the Sabres potted a goal inside the first minute of the game. This time, it was captain Rasmus Dahlin leading by example. He danced down deep, and beat goalie Jakub Dobes with a backhand to make it 1-0 Buffalo.
Dahlin gets the Sabres going in Game Six
Just over a minute later, though, Montreal responded. Defenseman Arber Xhekaj beat Alex Lyon clean with a point shot, and Bell Centre erupted as the game became 1-1.
With 8:12 gone in the first, the Canadiens took their first lead. Forward Ivan Demidov hammered a one-timer on a powerplay, and made it 2-1 Montreal. It was just the second shot against Lyon, and both hit the back of the net.
A little over two-minutes after Demidov's tally, Canadiens forward Jake Evans got loose and potted a short-handed goal. He snuck a shot past Lyon on the blocker side, and ended the netminder's night in the process. On came Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as the crease carousel continued. Lyon's evening ended with a .250% save-percentage, making just one save of the four shots he faced.
Now faced with a 3-1 deficit in an elimination game, a response was almost imperative for the blue and gold. They got one, in the form of Jason Zucker. On the back-end of a four-minute powerplay, Josh Norris located the veteran with a cross-crease pass to pull the Sabres back within one, at 3-2.
Zucker gives Buffalo life before intermission
The momentum carried over into the middle stanza for Buffalo, as the team came out buzzing again to start the second. The buzzing turned into goal-scoring just 60-seconds in, courtesy of Zach Benson. He found his fifth goal of the playoffs sitting behind Dobes, as the goalie didn't know where a loose puck was. Benson did, and evened things up amidst a hushed crowd in Montreal.
The legend of "Playoff Benny" grows
Buffalo vaulted themselves back in the lead near the halfway point of the period, thanks to a guy who's been skatebitten all postseason-long. He's been shooting the puck in the interim, and finally got off the schneid. On a powerplay, Jack Quinn scored his long-awaited first-career playoff goal to give the Sabres their first lead since the 1:39 mark of the first period.
Quinn's first of the postseason vaults Buffalo ahead
The Sabres weren't done there. Just over two-minutes after Quinn, Konsta Helenius got in on the second-period barrage. Jason Zucker and Helenius have turned into a nice tandem since Helenius joined the lineup, and they teamed up for a nifty scoring play to keep the tides turning at 5-3 Buffalo.
Helenius owns the moment, makes it 5-3 Sabres
It was more of the same in the third period of play. The onslaught rolled along with three more Sabres tallies which eventually eradicated the crowd of red around them in hostile territory.
It started at the halfway point of the period, when Quinn made it a 6-3 advantage with an incredible shot for yet another powerplay goal.
Are the floodgates opening for Quinn?
That spelled the end of the night for Dobes, who was pulled from the net by Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis.
Backup Jacob Fowler wasn't in the net very long before he was motioned back to the bench for an extra skater. Trailing 6-3, Montreal was in a similar situation that Buffalo was in just two nights before. With just under six-minutes left in regulation, Tage Thompson sent any home fans pining for a comeback to the exits when he nailed an empty-netter from his own defensive zone.
Anyone that stuck around until the end got to see a nice moment for Zach Metsa. In his playoff debut, he snuck a shot through Fowler for Buffalo's eighth goal of the night, and fourth on the powerplay to put a bow on a statement of a Game Six victory in hostile territory.
Metsa fires away for a goal in his postseason debut
---------------
SCORING RECAP:
First Period:
BUF: 0:32 - Rasmus Dahlin (3) (Mattias Samuelsson, Zach Benson); 13:56 - Jason Zucker (2) PPG (Josh Norris, Jack Quinn)
MTL: 1:40 - Arber Xhekaj (1) (Jake Evans); 8:12 - Ivan Demidov (2) PPG (Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield); 10:14 - Jake Evans (2) SHG (Mike Matheson)
Second Period:
BUF: 1:00 - Zach Benson (5) (Tage Thompson, Bowen Byram); 10:54 - Jack Quinn (1) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson); 12:59 - Konsta Helenius (2) (Jason Zucker, Rasmus Dahlin)
MTL: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 9:58 - Jack Quinn (2) PPG (Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin); 14:12 - Tage Thompson (5) ENG (Unassisted); 17:49 - Zach Metsa (1) PPG (Ryan McLeod, Rasmus Dahlin)
MTL: NONE
---------------
---------------
Bluestar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
2.) Jack Quinn - BUF
3.) Tage Thompson - BUF
---------------
What's Next:
Game Seven. KeyBank Center. Monday night. Need we say more? Puck drop on May 18 is just after 7:30 pm ET with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call on WGR Sports Radio 550.
Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin combine for nine points to lead a comeback for the ages in an 8-3 Game Six drubbing
Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin combine for nine points to lead a comeback for the ages in an 8-3 Game Six drubbing
