The Sabres’ 4-2 loss to the Canadiens was an exercise in execution and in frustration.
BUFFALO — It’s always interesting to watch a game turn on the slightest of errors. The Buffalo Sabres 4-2 loss to the Montréal Canadiens was a great example of how one slip-up or one tricky hop can spin the game right around and change the fortunes for everyone.
In essence it was a one-goal loss for Buffalo thanks to Jake Evans’ empty-net goal with 2:38 to go, but what they gave up in the second period on the power play to Cole Caufield, a breakdown to Josh Anderson, and what Sabres coach Lindy Ruff referred to as “falling asleep” on a 4-on-4 with 2.6 seconds left in the frame to Alex Newhook were all plays that could be tracked back to a mix-up or mess-up by the Sabres own hands.
“We gave them all their opportunities, I thought, all night,” Alex Tuch said. “Yeah, a couple missed plays, a couple puck-management issues. But as group, worked hard, but weren’t able to get it done, weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities. We could’ve been a little bit more net focused at times.”
Focus was a tad bit lacking, sure, but against a team that for all intents and purposes is their equal (Buffalo and Montréal are the two youngest teams in the NHL), losing for the third time against them with two of those being at home and very winnable, it’s a summation of how frustrating the season can be for a team that’s been working through variable matters all season long.
“If you’re in a division game, you can’t lose three out of three games,” Rasmus Dahlin said. “That’s just how it is. It’s not good enough. It’s brutal.”
More from a hard loss in a hard time during a hard season ahead…
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It’s easy to see the highlights of Saturday night’s game and think that the Sabres just played terribly and earned their fate, but it’s not quite like that. It’s sort of like that, but compared to other hard losses throughout the year, this one fell under the header of being winnable if not for a hiccup.
Caufield’s power play goal that got the scoring started happened because the Sabres got caught trying to make offense happen while on the penalty kill. Their shorthanded attempt didn’t exactly materialize, and Patrik Laine was able to whisk the puck away on a 2-on-1 with Caufield against Mattias Samuelsson. Squaring up on an odd-man break like that with a shooter on each side is deeply unenviable for both Samuelsson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in goal.
Samuelsson stayed straight up between the two forwards and didn’t force Laine to make a pass and allow Luukkonen to focus on Caufield as a shooter. It wasn’t an ideal play, but it’s a brutal duo to try to stop when your teammates more or less hung you out to dry.
“Yeah, it’s like we pressure, pressure, pressure down low in the end, and then get too horny (to score), and then they just get easy chances back,” Dahlin said.
Anderson’s goal saw a similar kind of breakdown that led to a 4-on-3 rush up ice that had Sabres defenseman scattering to cover open players with one forward trying to cover two guys up the middle as the two forwards who were in deep attempted to get back and help but were too late. The numbers overwhelmed them in an instant.
“You’re looking at, the puck is on our stick on the first two goals,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “First one, we’re shorthanded, we should never get caught the way we did. Second goal, same thing, the puck is on our stick, we’re leading the game, and we don’t get a call. The guy buries Quinn from behind below the goal line and they go down the ice 4-on-3 and execute. So, you’re looking at those two goals, the puck is on our stick, we don’t execute, we get caught, give up an odd-numbered rush. We’ve been talking about odd-numbered rushes since day one. We’ve been talking about how we manage the puck since day one. We didn’t manage the puck well enough. We didn’t manage the game well enough.”
The toughest goal to give up wound up being the game-winner during a 4-on-4 situation late in the second period. As the seconds ticked down and the Canadiens attacked the Sabres zone looking for one last chance, Buffalo’s skaters all backed off and allowed them to gain the zone with ease. Montréal defenseman Mike Matheson skated up the right wing, forward Alex Newhook had all kinds of space to drive the net without a Sabres player going with him.
In 4-on-4 it’s always a man-to-man setup and in this case, Tuch wasn’t there to tie up Newhook. Matheson lets a shot fly, Newhook tips it and is goes past Luukkonen for a 3-2 lead. It’s not a damning thing for Tuch, but more on the entire group for allowing them to get up the ice with ease. The end result, however, is one Tuch was deeply annoyed that it happened on his watch.
“Just fell asleep on it,” Ruff said. “If you look at it, it started down low with coming off, they’re defending down low on the goal line, in the corner. Then when it went up top, we didn’t get pursuit by our top forward on that side. If you look at the pass into the middle, I think it should’ve been Tuch, should’ve been going out at him stick on puck and taking his time away. We gave up a goal with two seconds (left) that just killed us.”
With a one-goal lead in the third, the Canadiens focused on getting on top of Sabres players in the zone and getting into the lanes, be it passing or shooting, to frustrate them to no end and it worked perfectly. The Sabres resigned themselves to sitting on the outside and trying to find a way through only to see that there was no chance in hell it was going to happen.
“We didn’t get to the net enough,” Dahlin said. “Kept the puck on the outside. We were missing chances when we had to score. Not good enough.”
Time whittled away, the chances dried up, and with Luukkonen off for the extra skater late in the game, Evans put it out of reach on yet another play that was kicked off by a Sabres error.
“You can look at some of the puck play,” Ruff said. “We stickhandled around our blue line; we gave up an unbelievable opportunity. The empty-net goal, the puck is on our stick, we have all kinds of time, and we hand them that empty-net goal that didn’t give us a chance to tie the hockey game.”
The Sabres need wins now. They needed wins months ago, too, but all while they have the belief they can get back into the race they have to win. Having more competitive losses would’ve been a good sign back in November or December, but it’s March now and battling hard is what the base level of effort should be.
Saturday night’s game was a grumpy one between the two teams. There were post-whistle scrums and some ill-feelings being shared. Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj tested Sabres players throughout the game to see how they’d respond and if they’d stick up for each other. He pushed and shoved with Tage Thompson which got everyone in black’s attention and in the third period he got into it with Jordan Greenway which got them both roughing minors.
Greenway drew the ire of the Habs late when he was jawing with rookie goalie Jakub Dobeš and gave him a quick cross-check in front of the net that got him surrounded by everyone in a Canadiens uniform and a scrum ensued in the final minute.
It’s good to see some kind of aggression out of the Sabres, but down two in the final minute and with a rematch coming up on Monday at Bell Center, the stage is set for an even feistier game.
“He’s just talking ridiculousness,” Greenway said. “I just wanted him to know we play them Monday and we’re going to be coming, so hopefully he relays it to their guys.”