Mistakes cost Sabres in loss to Canadiens

Each goal the Buffalo Sabres allowed Saturday night, most notably Alex Newhook’s game winner in the dying moments of the second period, resulted from what they consider avoidable mistakes.

Those miscues amounted to a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center.

“We’ve been talking about odd-numbered rushes since day one,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “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. Sometimes you have to let them make the mistake. … Don’t make your own mistake.”

The second period, chaotic from start to finish, began with a scoreless tie and ended with a 3-2 Canadiens lead. On the opening shift, a JJ Peterka shot popped out of Jakub Dobes’ glove, hit the post and settled between the Montreal goaltender’s legs.

Montreal got a power play moments later and Cole Caufield cashed in to open the scoring. The Sabres had been caught on the wrong end of the ice after pursuing a shorthanded opportunity, leaving Caufield and Patrik Laine with a 2-on-1 rush the other way.

“We’re shorthanded – we should never get caught the way we did,” Ruff said.

But Buffalo responded less than five minutes later, when Jacob Bryson controlled the puck behind the goal line and fed Alex Tuch for a top-shelf goal from the right dot. It marked Bryson’s first point since a Jan. 25 assist and Tuch’s 22nd goal of the season, tying his total from 2023-24.

Jiri Kulich gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead 1:29 later. Rasmus Dahlin skated the puck up the left side of the offensive zone, drew Dobes’ eyes and ripped a pass across to a wide-open Kulich for the one timer.

The pendulum swung back in Montreal’s favor in the late stages of the period, beginning with Josh Anderson’s game-tying goal on an odd-man rush with 6:27 remaining.

"Second goal, same thing – the puck is on our stick, we’re leading the game and we don’t get a call," Ruff said. "The guy buries (Jack) Quinn from behind below the goal line and they go down the ice 4-on-3 and execute."

Peterka drew a late-period high-sticking penalty before going to the box himself just 17 seconds into the Sabres' power play. An intact Montreal stick sat on the ice and Peterka swept it out of the zone, which merits an interference call.

“It wasn’t that the guy was going for it and he was shooting it away,” said Ruff. “He was trying to move it out of the way so we could make the next play, not realizing that you’re going to get called for it.”

In another 4-on-4 situation, with 2.6 seconds left in the period, Newhook found space in front and redirected a Mike Matheson shot-pass past Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for what proved to be the game winner. Postgame, the Sabres lamented their defensive-zone passiveness in that even-strength situation.

“That was brutal – can’t happen,” said Dahlin. “It was way too passive. It’s not how we play. We just tried and kill time when we were 4-on-4 – it doesn’t make sense. Wasn’t good enough.”

While the third-period numbers – 27 shot attempts and 12 scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick – suggest a strong push from the Sabres, their captain felt otherwise.

“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.”

To Dahlin’s point, shots from the outside rarely got through as the Canadiens totaled 28 shot blocks – the second-highest total by a Sabres opponent this season. Both Ruff and Tuch agreed the Sabres didn’t test Dobes enough, and Ruff sensed frustration from his team over the blocks.

“I thought they were good at getting in shot lanes, getting in front of us,” said Tuch. “They play tight man-on-man (defense), so sometimes it’s harder to get as free as you want. We just need to bear down on our opportunities.”

Jake Evans iced the game for Montreal with a late 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,” Ruff said.

Here’s more from the loss.

1. Tuch feels Luukkonen deserved a better outcome for his 25-save performance.

“I thought Upie was great,” Tuch said. “He kept us in it the entire way. We weren’t able to capitalize and we weren’t able to get a win for him, and that’s on us.”

2. Ruff said Thursday morning that defensemen Connor Clifton and Bryson, neither of whom had played since Feb. 8, would see game action soon during Buffalo’s busy stretch of schedule.

They got the nod Saturday, replacing Henri Jokiharju and Sam Lafferty in the lineup as the Sabres dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Bryson tallied an assist in 15:34 of ice time, while Clifton blocked four shots in 12:18.

“I thought he played well,” Ruff said of Bryson. “He made a nice play on the goal, skated well. He put together a nice game for us.”

Jason Zucker was also scratched; Ruff said at the morning skate that he’s day-to-day with a nagging injury. Zucker, who took a shot to the foot a week ago, missed Thursday’s game at Carolina, too.

3. The Sabres are now 0-3-0 in the season series against Montreal, which concludes Monday at Bell Centre. The prior matchups consisted of a 7-5 home loss Nov. 11 and a 6-1 road loss Dec. 17. Buffalo sees those losses, especially the back-and-forth ones at KeyBank Center, as missed opportunities against a divisional rival it now trails by 10 points in the standings.

“We handed both games away,” Ruff said. “The last one we gave away. We gave this one away. Frustrating, for sure.”

4. Tuch, Jordan Greenway and Dylan Cozens comprised a highly effective line that, entering Saturday, had played just 1:16 together at 5-on-5 this season. During the line’s 9:18 of 5-on-5 ice time in the loss, Buffalo led 12-4 in shot attempts and 4-0 in shots on goal.

With a minute remaining in the third period, Greenway was shoved headfirst into the end boards by Montreal’s Jayden Struble. The Sabres forward, who finished the night with two shots and three hits in 16:18 of ice time, got up and exchanged words with Dobes in his crease.

“He was just talking ridiculousness,” Greenway said of Dobes. “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.”

Up next

The home-and-home set with the Canadiens, and the season series, concludes Monday night in Montreal.

Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. ahead of puck drop at 7.