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Kristen Shilton
Multiple Authors
BUFFALO — It took the Buffalo Sabres 14 years to get back to the NHL playoffs — and they’ve finally brought their power play along with them.
Buffalo defeated Montreal 4-2 in Game 1 of their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series Wednesday with a multigoal showing with the extra man the likes of which the Sabres haven’t been able to produce since the last time they tallied two power-play markers on March 31.
Since March, the Sabres went 0-20 on the man advantage to finish the regular season and were an astonishingly poor 1-for-24 on the power play in their first-round series against Boston. Quite frankly, Buffalo was sick of hearing about its dismal special teams performance.
“I mean, that’s part of it, right?” Josh Doan said of changing the narrative. “It’s one [goal] in the series that’s over, and we have two in this series already. So, it’s going well. And obviously it was hit-or-miss throughout the end of year, and tonight was one of those nights where we had to get more pucks back in retrievals. We were losing too many battles and too many easy ones and one-and-dones, but credit to [our guys] for pulling through.”
Buffalo controlled Game 1 from the jump, and Doan was a key part of that. He spotted the Sabres a 1-0 lead early in the first period, and Ryan McLeod extended it to 2-0 with Buffalo’s first power-play goal midway through the frame (which Doan assisted on).
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki’s marker with the extra skater got his team on the board with less than a minute to go in the opening frame, but the Sabres quickly restored their multigoal lead when Jordan Greenway lit the lamp 3½ minutes into the second.
Bowen Byram registered his fourth goal of the postseason on Buffalo’s power play attempt in the second period, and though Kirby Dach made things interesting with a goal late in the frame, a scoreless final period kept the Sabres in line for the victory.
“We took advantage of some good breaks,” coach Lindy Ruff said of Buffalo’s power-play success. “We made a couple of good plays.”
Alex Lyon was — and has been — a significant factor for the Sabres in reaching their current pinnacle. He was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s backup to start the series against Boston, but when Luukkonen stumbled — with a .825 save percentage through the first two games — Lyon emerged as a savior.
Since replacing Luukkonen late in Game 2 of the first round, Lyon is 4-1 as the Sabres’ starter with a .950 save percentage.
But despite Buffalo scoring highly in multiple categories against the Canadiens, Ruff wants to see more from his players ahead of Game 2 on Friday — especially after they had so much time to rest since wrapping up the Boston series nearly a week ago.
“The three to four days off affected guys in different ways,” Ruff said. “You get a couple of good practices in and some players really came out good. I think other guys in my eyes were a step behind. Overall, I thought some of our puck decisions were more up to par, though. There are a couple situations in the game where we gave them a little bit of momentum.”
The Sabres tapped into their own depth Wednesday night. Buffalo stifled most of Montreal’s top talents at even strength, and though the Sabres’ stars didn’t register on the scoresheet, their third-line performers like Doan and Zach Benson — with two points apiece — were the difference-makers.
Ruff knows how valuable those contributions are, especially given how the Canadiens’ top line didn’t register an even-strength goal until Game 7 of the first round and was silenced again in that category Wednesday.
“Those big goals [by Montreal in the first round] wasn’t by the big players,” Ruff said. “And I think that’s the strength of our team. It’s been the strength of our team all year. We can put numbers on them. But I think on nights where maybe sometimes your best players are taken care of or not having their best night, we’ve had another line that has picked up the pace … and that’s what we saw tonight.”
There is some injury concern for the Sabres, as captain Rasmus Dahlin left the ice after blocking a shot by Jake Evans late in the third period. It appeared to be a knee issue that sent Dahlin limping back to the dressing room, but he did return to the bench area.
Ruff said Dahlin “seemed to be fine” walking down the hallway postgame, but acknowledged there hadn’t yet been a discussion with the medical staff.
For the Canadiens, Wednesday’s outcome was a single salvo they can move on from. Coach Martin St. Louis already thought he could recognize progress from the first-round series with Tampa Bay, and he expressed confidence that there is better to come from his group in Game 2.
“What I liked was, it’s a totally different feel than against Tampa,” St. Louis said. “I felt our top guys got more touches and space and that’s what I liked. You have to manage the puck in the o-zone. Lot of 50-50 battles, you’ve got to be on the right side of it … and we have to do better there too. But I like that we battled.
“It wasn’t the start we wanted in the game, and the series. But we’re going to keep going.”
