MONTREAL – A late comeback bid fell short as the Buffalo Sabres lost 4-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday at Bell Centre.
Tyson Kozak scored his first of the season to bring the Sabres within one goal with 7:30 remaining, and Buffalo continued a strong push in the Montreal end, but goalie Jakub Dobes and the Canadiens survived before ending it with an empty netter.
Much like in their first road game at Boston, the Sabres struggled to generate offense during the opening period, getting outshot 14-6 and surrendering a goal to forward Oliver Kapanen. If not for Alex Lyon continuing his strong early-season play, especially on some scrambles for loose pucks near his crease, the deficit would’ve been much steeper after 20 minutes.
“We didn’t break the puck out well to start the game,” coach Lindy Ruff said.
“I thought they were reading us very well in our gameplan,” Rasmus Dahlin added of the first period. “They were on top of us the whole time, they kind of knew our structure, they played through it. They came out smart, they came out good.
“But in the second and third, we put the foot on the gas and changed a little bit, created more.”
To the captain’s point, the Sabres returned for the second period with a jump in their step, especially the first line. Dobes denied Zach Benson on a couple promising chances, but the group kept pushing. Seven minutes in, Jiri Kulich navigated traffic in the offensive zone, kicked a loose puck to his stick and tied the game 1-1 with a backhand shot – his second goal of the season.
“First four games were terrible from my side, so had to change something,” said Kulich, who attempted five shots in the loss, getting more involved offensively than he’d been to start the season. “It’s still not great, but trying to build from every game.”
Buffalo outshot Montreal 11-4 in that middle frame and led 8-0 in high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick, but couldn’t add on.
Goals from Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson had the Sabres in a two-goal hole midway through the third, but Kozak’s tally got them back within striking distance.
“We didn’t defend the rush well on the second goal, and we got caught with a couple tired people on the third,” Ruff said. “I liked our answer right after that to come back and score. Had another couple good looks, but in a tight game, we didn’t find a way to win.”
Though 2-4-0 now, the Sabres weren’t too discouraged by their effort over the last 40 minutes in a tough environment; they finished with a 32-31 edge in shots on goal and generated 19 high-danger chances, a new season high.
“We made a great push,” Dahlin said. “We just have to eliminate the big chances they had in the third. We can’t let two goals in when it mattered the most.”
Here's more from the loss.
