Special teams overshadow Sabres’ comeback in Montreal

MONTREAL – Special-teams shortcomings stung the Buffalo Sabres – and cost them a point in the standings – as they lost 4-3 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday.

The Sabres overcame a three-goal deficit in the final 22 minutes of regulation before Montreal’s Mike Matheson scored the 3-on-3 game winner.

During a four-minute span in the first period, power-play goals by Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky sandwiched Nick Suzuki’s shorthanded tally. Suddenly, just 14 minutes into what coach Lindy Ruff had labeled a must-win game, the Sabres found themselves chasing a 3-0 deficit.

“Coming into tonight that was a big focus of ours, staying disciplined, staying out of the box – we know that their power play drives their team,” said Tage Thompson. “And (we) didn’t do that at all.”

A mixed bag of penalties granted the Canadiens their four first-period power plays. An early scrum, with plenty of involvement by both sides, yielded only a Dylan Cozens roughing call. Another scrum followed a Bowen Byram slash, but nobody else went to the box and Caufield scored. Ruff, who said pregame he didn’t expect many friendly calls at Bell Centre, gave the officials an earful after those first two penalties.

“The first call, the first scrum, it’s a tough call to make,” Ruff said. “I mean, usually you get warned, and then the next scrum they’ll take one guy.”

Slafkovsky’s goal followed a Rasmus Dahlin interference call. And JJ Peterka was whistled for tripping less than a minute later.

“It’s on me, too – some really dumb penalties,” said the captain Dahlin. “It kept them in the game. Every time we were playing 5-on-5, we were in their zone and creating a lot.”

The Sabres were confident they could outplay Montreal at even strength. Ruff reinforced that message during the first intermission, and Buffalo returned to play a dominant 40 minutes; in those two periods combined, the Sabres led 27-11 in shots on goal, 68-23 in shot attempts and 19-5 in high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

“I just thought we were skating,” Ruff said. “We just spent very little time (in the defensive zone), we broke the puck up pretty well. I thought our passing breaking out of the zone was excellent. There’s nights you’re a little bit off, but tonight almost everything was on the tape. … It felt like a game that we were gonna come back.”

The comeback began with two minutes remaining in the middle frame as Alex Tuch got the Sabres on the board. Dennis Gilbert’s stretch pass found Cozens at the offensive blue line, and Cozens’ net drive produced a rebound that Tuch pushed past Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault.

Four straight games with a goal ties a career-best streak for Buffalo’s alternate captain.

Momentum from that goal and a dominant second period carried into the third. At the 3:24 mark, Thompson clapped a one timer from the top of the left circle that beat Montembeault short side and narrowed Buffalo’s deficit to 3-2.

Relentless pressure in the final two minutes, with goalie James Reimer pulled and Buffalo attacking 6-on-5, yielded the tying goal from Dahlin with 1:01 remaining. But Matheson scored 1:21 into overtime to deny the Sabres of a second point.

Buffalo has followed a 6-1-0 stretch with an 0-2-1 skid, which began Thursday at Carolina. With each point the Sabres leave on the table, their path to a playoff spot grows increasingly daunting. Postgame, Dahlin was asked how he’s leading the team through this latest rough patch.

“As captain, you have to lead,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the result was. We have to get better every day and that’s my mindset. Tough nights here and there. You just have to battle. There’s no quitting ever.

“We’re in playoff mode. We really wanted this game. Stuff happens out there. A lot of emotions. It didn’t go well today.”

Here’s more from the overtime loss.

1. Buffalo didn’t score on its four power-play opportunities, three of which came in the second and third periods.

“Right now, there’s a lot of things we have to adjust,” Dahlin said of a power play that’s 1-for-12 in the last four games. “There’s a couple meetings here moving forward that need to get done. We have to clarify a lot of things.”

Thompson elaborated on the units’ recent struggles.

“I think in the past, when you look at our power play and what’s made it successful, is when we’re ripping shots, getting loose pucks back, reloading it and shooting again," he said. "I think (when) you do that, you get the penalty kill scrambling, and then your seams open up and all those pretty plays that everyone loves to see open up.

“But I think right now we’re trying to force seams or run set plays when they’re just in their structure and they don’t really have to move too far out of it. I think really the only way to get guys out of their structure is to get them chasing a loose puck in the corner, and usually that comes off of a shot and a rebound.”

The Sabres have snapped out of rough power-play droughts at various points this season. Thompson feels doing so once again, after a frustrating night like Monday, will require a “short-term memory.”

2. Reimer made 16 saves on 20 shots in the first leg of Buffalo’s back-to-back set; none of the goals against came in 5-on-5 play. It was his first start since a Feb. 4 win versus Columbus.

Though not tested too heavily, Reimer made some key saves, including on an Arber Xhekaj breakaway when the Sabes trailed 3-0 in the second period. Montreal’s first true push in the third period came with six minutes remaining, and Reimer made a series of great stops then, too. As he did in relief at Carolina, the veteran netminder propped the door open for a Sabres’ comeback attempt.

“He made some huge saves,” Dahlin said. “He was the guy that kept us in the game and we wouldn’t have one point without him, that’s for sure.”

3. Buffalo’s fourth line had one of its best games in recent memory. With the trio of Beck Malenstyn, Peyton Krebs and Sam Lafferty on the ice at 5-on-5, the Sabres led 11-3 in shot attempts and 3-0 in shots on goal.

“That line drew a penalty, it dictated play every time they were out there,” Ruff said. “I thought it was Lafferty’s best game by far. That line gave us an excellent night.

4. Jason Zucker missed a third straight game due to injury; the forward took a shot to the foot Feb. 22 versus the Rangers. After Wednesday’s practice, Ruff offered no update on Zucker’s recovery progress or expected return date.

Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was scratched as well.

Up next

The Sabres face a quick turnaround as they return home to face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday – which is Buffalo Bills Night at KeyBank Center. Tickets are available here.

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