Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – The Buffalo Sabres had spent over 40 minutes dominating the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of their second-round series on home ice.
Buffalo was trailing 2-0 through 20 minutes, but the group rallied to tie the game over the next two periods, thanks to a shot from defenseman Mattias Samuelsson went in off winger Jordan Greenway at 13:19 of the second period, followed by defenseman Owen Power doing a terrific job of holding onto a puck until captain Rasmus Dahlin broke free through the left circle to tie it at 6:27 of the third period.
That's when the second biggest play of Game 7 happened midway through the period.
Greenway managed to push a puck through Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes, and the puck was never covered or frozen. It just sat behind the goalie in the crease, because he had no idea where the puck was until Beck Malenstyn shot it into the wide-open net. However, referee Wes McCauley waved the goal off, because he blew the whistle before the Sabres winger put the puck in the net.
All that is true, but McCauley had the same view of the play that I did: The puck never was frozen, and the whistle never should've been blown.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said following the loss he wasn't given an explanation on the play.
“I thought it was a little bit of a quick whistle," Ruff reflected. "You can always go back and look at those, but didn't really get an explaination on it.”
With the importance of that play not only on the game, but the outcome of the series, Malenstyn was the only player I asked to speak with after the game. I was told that can wait until Tuesday morning, and he was not going to be made available.
That question needs to be asked immediately after the game, not the next day.
None of us know if the Sabres would've gone on to win the game, but they would've taken a 3-2 lead against a team that was barely hanging on, at that point. Buffalo has been very good at protecting one-goal leads, and also good at getting the empty-net goal to put games away.
Had McCauley not made such a bad mistake, the Sabres would've had a good chance to win and go onto the Eastern Conference Final to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
The game remained tied at 2-2 until Tage Thompson and Dahlin mishandled the puck at the Montreal blue line and turned it over. Canadiens forward Alex Newhook came through the left circle and took a shot that turned out to be a knuckle puck for Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The front angle shot of the game-winning goal gave us a clear view that Luukkonen appeared to have the save, but the puck took a dip and went in under his arm to give Montreal the series.
It was Newhook who scored with 8:53 left in the third period in Tampa Bay against the Lightning in Round 1. In that Game 7, Montreal got boat raced by the Lightning, who outshot them 29-9. But Tampa Bay just couldn't score on Dobes.
In the last 51:22, the Canadiens had just 14 shots on goal, while Buffalo had 31.
Ruff told the team at the end of the second period that too many of their great chances were being shot wide. Buffalo held a 91-59 shot attempts advantage, but it was Dobes, again, who held down the fort for Montreal.
The 'Big 3' for Buffalo - Thompson, Dahlin and Alex Tuch - combined for 15 shots on Dobes, but only scored once. Dahlin had eight shot attempts blocked in the loss.
So many players were point-blank against Dobes, but just couldn't score.
Buffalo ended the series scoring nine of the last 12 goals, but the Sabres are still going home.
Many teams that have so many players in their first playoff series go through a few growing pains. The late John Muckler said the playoffs are a process, and there are so many example of that over the years in the NHL.
Ruff knows his team had many chances to score throughout the series.
“We had some momentum swings, you get to overtime and we had some really good chances. And when we had the chances in our hands, and those are the opportunities that we hoped we'd get, we just didn't finish," Ruff said.
“We had a couple of great opportunities, even in the third. The [Konsta] Helenius toe/glove save that almost went, I think the ice was fairly tilted. We had a lot of opportunities to make a difference in the game.”
This Sabres accomplished a lot since Dec. 9, including going from last place in the Eastern Conference to second place overall, and first place in the Atlantic Division.
“These guys never quit all year," Ruff said of his group. "It's just another indication that you battle hard, you stay with the game. Dahlin got us tied, and I really felt the game was right there for us.
“It hurts, but that pain will go away. But I won't let this one game define the season we had. I told the players how proud I was of them, the battle we took into Game 6 in Montreal, and then came back here and gave ourselves every chance to win.”
In the second round, Buffalo won Game 1 at home, and then proceeded to lose three-straight home games. When factoring in the first round games against the Boston Bruins, the Sabres lost 5-of-7 at home in the playoffs.
“That hurts," Ruff said. "It's strange in the East, the disparity between the home and the road (home teams in the Eastern Conference are 12-22, with Carolina having four of those wins). Beside the start, this was probably one of our better games where we tilted the ice and had the game in our favor. But didn't find a way to win it.
“Our fans have been so great. You go back to the end of the year, the momentum they helped us with, the energy in this building, it would've been nice to close this one out here, just a gift for how good they've been. Didn't quite get that done.”
After the hand shakes, the team acknowledged the fans for everything they gave them. These people have been Ruff's neighbors for many years, and he made sure he clapped for them before he left.
“Just how great they've been - the energy in the city, the energy around our team again - I'm so proud of our fans," Ruff added. "I know this hurts them as much as it hurts us, and this is the first time our players got to experience something like this. I couldn't be more proud of the way our city represented themselves with our play.”
Ruff got through to his players this season where he couldn't last year, and it bothered him. They played the game the way it's supposed to be played, and they made him proud. He says he appreciated the step forward this franchise has taken.
“This is a giant step for all the players to really get a feel for what it's really like. To be proud of being a Buffalo Sabre. To be proud of playing here," Ruff said. "When I took the job, I thought, No.1, was I wanted these guys to like being a Buffalo Sabre. I think they liked being a Sabre, and I think they did our city proud.”
Ruff says the players gave everything they had in their tank, and that was obvious for much of this season.
The next few days will be reflection and locker room cleanout, as the players sit down with Ruff and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen to try to figure out what they need to do in the offseason to take the next step in this team's journey.
We have no idea if Tuch - an unrestricted free agent this summer - will be back, but players that will be back are Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius. Also don't forget about Jiri Kulich either, if his issue with blood cots improves.
Young defensemen like Radim Mrtka and Adam Kleber are big and mobile, and are also just around the corner.
After two seasons at the University of Minnesota, forward Brodie Ziemer appears to be a guy that can be an NHL player. He was captain of Team USA at the World Junior Championship this past winter, and over the last two years at the tournament, Ziemer scored four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 12 games.
The future is bright in Buffalo, and this is a team that will likely be hungry to take the next step in the Stanley Cup process.
