Sabres' win streak snapped with tight loss to Canadiens

Given how the two teams have been jostling in the standings in recent weeks, perhaps it was fitting that the season series finale between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens came down to mere inches.

The Canadiens trailed after 40 minutes, but a pair of third-period goals from Cole Caufield (along with a late empty netter) propelled them to a 4-2 win at KeyBank Center, snapping the Sabres’ winning streak at five games.

The Sabres generated 19 scoring chances in the third period as they pushed for the tying goal, including a late Tage Thompson shot that hit the crossbar.

“A matter of inches,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said when asked the difference in the game.

• Next home game: Thursday, Feb. 5 vs. Pittsburgh (Olympic Sendoff)

The Sabres and Canadiens split their four-game season series with two wins apiece. The Sabres had beaten their division rival twice this month, which helped close what was once a sizeable gap in the Atlantic Division standings.

Montreal reclaimed third place in the division with the win on Saturday, two points ahead of Buffalo (which fell into the first wild card spot). Buffalo has a game in hand.

“That was a really good, competitive game, Ruff said. “They had a few pockets of good shifts there in the third period that got us on our heels a little bit. I thought we recovered from that. I thought we had a great push in the second period. But we just didn’t quite make them pay for some of the mistakes.”

The Canadiens opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play goal from Juraj Slafkovsky, who sent a one-timer from the slot into the corner of the net.

The Sabres took control in the second period, tying the game when Owen Power buried a shot from the slot during a delayed penalty and then taking the lead on a Noah Ostlund one-timer on the power play.

Montreal answered with a push to begin the third, which led to Caufield scoring the tying goal on a redirection at the 4:14 mark. Less than six minutes later, Kirby Dach won a puck on the forecheck to initiate a sequence that ended with Caufield scoring the game-winning goal at the back side of the Buffalo net.

“I thought early on in the third we didn’t manage the puck really well, probably was the thing that hurt us in the first five minutes,” Ruff said. “I thought after that, we started to manage it better. Just you got to be able to handle the puck under pressure, you got to be good on the walls.”

The Sabres pushed hard for the tying goal, finishing the night with heavy leads in shots (38-30) and scoring chances (42-21, according to Natural Stat Trick). Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes matched his season high with 36 saves.

“Really back-and-forth game,” said goalie Alex Lyon, whose franchise-record 10-game winning streak was snapped with the loss. “I thought we played well. They played well. Got to give a lot of credit to dangerous guys on their team and Dobes played a good game tonight as well. Just got to keep grinding and move forward.”

The game was yet another example of the types of contests the Sabres can expect down the stretch: tightly played and meaningful to the standings, with palpable energy in the building.

The Sabres have embraced those nights, having won two similarly important games against the Canadiens of late along with recent conference wins over Philadelphia, Toronto and the New York Islanders.

They intend to keep doing so. Their three remaining games before the Olympic break are all against veteran Eastern Conference playoff contenders: at Florida, at Tampa Bay, and home against Pittsburgh.

“Important games now coming up,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “If we want to show we’re a really good team, we better win these ones. These are the types of games you can see if you’re a good team or not.”

Greenway dresses for warmups

Jordan Greenway dressed for warmups as a precaution with another player questionable for the game, Ruff said. The other player (who Ruff did not name) ended up playing, so Greenway remained out of the lineup as he continues to work through his recovery from offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia.

“He’s gonna, on Monday, get another opinion on where he’s at and then we’ll see where we go,” Ruff said. “But if the other player didn’t play, he would have played.”

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres hit the road for another Atlantic Division matchup with the Florida Panthers on Monday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.