‘Balancing the emotions’ | Sabres reset after Game 2, head to Montreal

Bowen Byram captured the emotional swings of a playoff series during his appearance on Sabres Live earlier this week:

“I just always laugh, because you win Game 1 at home, you think you’re gonna win in four. You lose Game 2 at home, you think you’re gonna lose in 5,” the defenseman said. “That’s just how it always seems to be. It’s just a really stressful time.”

Byram was reflecting on the first-round matchup against Boston; sure enough, Buffalo again finds itself in that same situation. An exciting Game 1 win set up a disappointing Game 2 loss Friday at KeyBank Center, so the Sabres and Canadiens are tied 1-1 heading to Montreal.

One day between playoff games – Game 3 is Sunday at 7 p.m. – previously meant no practice for the Sabres, but they skated before Saturday’s flight to wash the Game 2 taste out of their mouths. Specifically, to clean up the poor puck play that plagued them in the 5-1 defeat.

“We talked before practice about balancing the emotions of wins and losses in playoffs,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “… Same type of emotion we had after Game 2 of the previous series. We knew we had to go play really well in Boston, and we did.”

“We had a good meeting,” Alex Tuch said. “As we got skating out there, I think everyone loosened up a little bit. Getting back into playing hockey, some good laughs and just trying to stay loose. Trying to build up each other’s confidence and get back to how we know we can play.”

While the Boston crowd was one thing, Buffalo now faces a new challenge in Montreal’s Bell Centre. It’ll surely be the loudest road atmosphere they’ve played in this season – or in their careers, for many Sabres – so a strong start would go a long way.

The Sabres scored two early goals in Game 1 and allowed two early ones in Game 2. In a series with two potent rush offenses, chasing multi-goal deficits is a recipe for failure.

“We’ve got to come out, and we’ve got to be really hard to play against, especially in the first 10 minutes of the first period in the Bell Centre,” Tuch said. “Such an, honestly, amazing atmosphere, passionate fanbase. They feed off a lot of energy with them, so we’ve got to try to take the crowd out of it right away.”

The Sabres turned their season around exactly five months ago on Dec. 9. They’ve suffered only two other four-goal losses in that span and followed both with fairly dominant winning streaks. That, plus their 3-0 road record these playoffs, gives plenty of reason to believe in this team as the series crosses the border.

“The whole year, we’ve answered the call,” Ruff said. “We had a couple stretches – even after our 10-game winning streak, we played a terrible game in Columbus, and we bounced back with real good hockey. So, really just reset, refocus. Let’s take the temperature down a little bit knowing that we can all be better.”

Here’s more from Saturday’s practice.

Saturday’s practice lines

The Sabres skated with the same lines from Games 1 and 2, with one exception: Sam Carrick entered as the fourth-line center while Tyson Kozak took a maintenance day. Having practiced with the team all week, Carrick could be getting set for his first game of these playoffs – the veteran has been out since injuring his left arm March 31.

“Carrick’s available for tomorrow, for sure,” Ruff said.

• From Tuesday: Carrick’s faceoff and scoring impact since joining Sabres

Alex Lyon is expected to start again in net.

New PP units

Buffalo did hit shuffle on its power-play units. Although the second group got goals from Ryan McLeod and Byram in Game 1, the Sabres went 0-for-5 as a team in Game 2, and despite accumulating nine shots, they didn’t pressure the Montreal kill consistently enough.

Thompson, Dahlin and Quinn moved around quite a bit during the drill, so expect their positions to be pretty fluid as they look for shooting lanes in-game.

“We’re gonna shake it up. We feel it’s the right time for it,” Ruff said. “We think that putting Doaner and Benny – Benny’s really playing well, he’s making a lot of small-ice plays. We think that can be a factor. We’re looking at Quinner coming off the flank, so, yeah, why not?”

Doan and Benson have the puck-battling ability to keep possession alive on the power play, as well as some proven chemistry with Thompson. Remember Benson’s game winner in Vancouver in December?

Practice sound

Up next

Game 3 is Sunday at 7 p.m. in Montreal on ESPN. As always, Brian Duff and Marty Biron’s pregame and postgame shows will be available on MSG, the Sabres’ social channels and the Buffalo Sabres App.

• Round 2 watch party schedule and info