Sabres 'got to be a lot better' in Game 4 of Eastern 2nd Round

MONTREAL -- There is no blip anymore.

There is no one-game sample size, one game in which the play of the Buffalo Sabres dipped, ready for them to bounce back and recover. They have played two straight games in which they were disappointed by their performance and overwhelmed by the speed and relentlessness of the Montreal Canadiens.

That was especially true at Bell Centre on Sunday, when Tage Thompson scored 53 seconds into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Second Round for Buffalo, a moment that did not quell the crowd nor the Canadiens, who capitalized on every misstep, every missed backcheck, every flubbed assignment in a 6-2 win and 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Game 4 is here on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN). The Sabres vow they will be better.

"I don't think we want to forget about that feeling last night," forward Alex Tuch said on Monday. "Me, personally, it's definitely my worst defensive game in the playoffs. So, I'm not going to forget that feeling."

So, how can he use it? How can Tuch and the rest of the Sabres harness it and respond following back-to-back losses, including their first road defeat of the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

"You get a little (ticked) off about it," Tuch said. "You learn from it. And then you move on."

The key will be cutting down on mistakes, which the players have been clear are their own doing, with Tuch calling them "very much self-inflicted." They need to slow the Canadiens while upping their own pace, a different challenge than that presented by the Boston Bruins in the first round.

In the wake of the loss Sunday, there were many explanations offered, from too much emotion to not enough compete, from too many penalties taken to poor decision-making.

"If you look at Montreal's first goal (by Alex Newhook), we've got first touch on the puck," coach Lindy Ruff said, by way of example. "First touch is a big deal. The decision we made with first touch is what cost us the goal against, and those are the decisions we're trying to clean up. It's all connected. If we make the proper play there, we're probably breaking out of the zone. And when our forwards see us getting first touch, they're reacting in a manner that we want to be leaving the zone.

"So, if we don't handle that, then for a second we can be out of position."

It happened again and again.

Tuch took full responsibility for Montreal's third goal, in which Zachary Bolduc scored on a one-timer off a pass from Joe Veleno at 10:43 of the second period to make it 3-1. Tuch called it "unacceptable," acknowledging a missed backcheck on his part, saying, "That's on me."

He wasn't the only one.

Overall, the Sabres struggled defensively, far too loose on their coverages, making mistakes that they don't generally make. It was all in the message Ruff delivered to his team Monday in meetings, when the Sabres opted to stay off the ice on the day in between games as they have for much of the postseason.

"We're a pretty honest group with each other," Ruff said. "I might not be honest with you guys (the media), but I'm honest with them. … We weren't good enough. We weren't good enough to win the game."

And it isn't a matter of experience; the Sabres emphasized that every player who has gotten into games this postseason has experience, knows what the playoffs are about and how hard they have to play to win.

"It isn't a time for excuses," Ruff said. "It's a time you know that you're playing a good team. It's our compete against their compete. Are we going to play quick enough? Are we going to break the puck out well enough?"

Ruff knows what his players can be at their best. He saw it in the first round, when Buffalo played to its strengths, took control, did not blink. 

"I need their best game. I need what they gave us in Game 6 in Boston (a 4-1 win on May 1)," Ruff said. "I thought our group gave us the best game of the series. This is the type of game where we need that, and they understand that."

There is some good news for the Sabres. If they win Game 4, just a single win, the series will be tied 2-2 and will head back to Buffalo with three games to determine which team moves on.

If they can do that, it's anyone's series.

"It's only 2-1 in the series," Tuch said. "We have to come out flying tomorrow. No excuses, we've just got to be a lot better."