Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - After three-straight wins with very good play and great goaltending, it all fell apart Monday against the Montreal Canadiens on home ice.
The Habs came into the game with a six-game losing streak, and the worst point percentage in the National Hockey League. However, Buffalo acted and played like they thought it would be an easy win.
When you score five goals in a game, you should win.
Buffalo only managed 18 shots on both Cayden Primeau and Sam Montembeault in the Montreal net. The Sabres even chased Primeau at 3:51 of the third period after JJ Peterka gave the Sabres a 5-4 lead. He had only made nine saves on 14 shots.
That’s the aggravating thing about this team: Despite playing very poorly and having Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen trying to play through, what Lindy Ruff called, “an ailment” from Sunday’s practice, Buffalo did come back numerous times.
Montreal scored two goals at 19:13 and 19:35 of the second period to take a one-goal lead heading into the second intermission. Rasmus Dahlin tied the game with a power play goal at 1:58 of the third period, and Peterka gave them the lead just 1:53 later.
Montreal tied the game at 10:50 of the third period, which was the first shot Devon Levi faced after starting the third period.
Just 25 seconds later, Dahlin takes an unnecessary elbowing penalty. While he took responsibility for it after the game, as the captain of this team, he has to stop taking dumb penalties and making bad plays at the most critical times in games. It has to stop!
The Canadiens already had the momentum from tying the game, and Cole Caufield scored the game-winner with his league-leading 12th goal of the season.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff doubled down by challenging the goal for a hand pass, but it was a horrible challenge because the puck just deflected off a glove.
After losing the challenge, Buffalo then had to kill another two minutes.
The Sabres handed Montreal six power plays on the night, which included 31 seconds worth of a 5-on-3 chance.
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Earlier in the game, Tage Thompson scored just 28 seconds after Montreal had taken a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Dylan Cozens tipped in a Dahlin shot just 19 seconds after the Canadiens had taken a 2-1 lead.
Levi had been scored on twice before he made his first save of the game, 15 minutes into the third period. Luukkonen played 39:46 and made 14 saves on 18 shots.
Thompson left the game after his first shift of the second period with a lower-body injury. Mattias Samuelsson was also limping after a scrum in front of the net, and left the contest with a lower-body injury.
Ruff did not have any information on either injury after the game, but if the Sabres are to become a better team, they can’t afford to lose Thompson for any period of time. When he left the game, his 11 goals were second in the NHL.
So Buffalo failed, again, to earn their first four-game winning streak since January of 2023. There was a lot to like during the three wins they just had, but nobody is going to take them seriously until they can stop games like this from stunting their ability to pile up some wins.