The Sabres entered the night with a clear sense of urgency on the heels of their loss against Ottawa on Tuesday. Jack Eichel opened the scoring on the power play to reach 30 goals for the first time in his career as the Sabres generated the game's first nine shots.
The game turned quickly in the second period. Ilya Kovalchuk pounced on a loose puck at the edge of the crease to put the Canadiens on the board just 44 seconds in, then Brendan Gallagher found space to bury a Tomas Tatar feed less than three minutes later.
The Canadiens went on to outshoot the Sabres, 14-3, in the second period and Gallagher's goal stood as the game winner. Tatar added an empty-net goal with 1:47 left in the contest, while Carey Price made just 20 saves to earn the victory.
"We just came out flat in the beginning of the second period," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "It took a while for us to grind ourselves back into the game. I thought there was a reaction in the making, but we just did not get to Price in the way we needed to win this game tonight and it's extremely disappointing where we're standing right now."
McCabe said he felt the Sabres allowed the Canadiens' one-two punch in the second period affect their confidence and, by extension, their game. Where they were on their toes in the first period, they were on their heels in the second.
"Especially in the second period, turnovers are costly, guys get stuck out there and the next thing you know you're just dumping the puck, changing and they're coming right back at us," McCabe said.
The Sabres did even the play out in the third but went unsuccessful on a late power play with the chance to tie the game. Krueger once again stressed the need to capitalize more when the possession and chances are in Buffalo's favor as they were in the first period.
"When we're in these opportunities like we were early in the game, you need to be hungrier and probably put a better result on the table after the first period," Krueger said. "We started a game that needed a 2-0 lead or maybe even more, but we didn't have enough of a killer instinct, maybe, at that moment in time to do that.
"All you do is you continue to work at it. You look it in the eyes, you watch this game in slow motion, as painful as it is for the coaches, and you bring the players the lessons out of it. That's what you do."
Carter Hutton made 27 saves in his first start in the absence of Linus Ullmark, who is expected to miss three to four weeks with a lower-body injury. His night included breakaway stops on Gallagher and Nick Suzuki, both of which kept the score 2-1.
"Wins and losses are not really goalie stats," Hutton said. "I can't control whether we score or not; I can just control the way I compete and play. It's frustrating, but there's only so much I can control, and that's the way I go about it."
