Despite early surge, Sabres pushed to brink of elimination

Three goals on four shots had the Buffalo Sabres buzzing early in Game 5, but the Montreal Canadiens ultimately took over for a 6-3 win Thursday at KeyBank Center.

The Sabres now trail the series 3-2 and will face elimination when they return to Montreal for Game 6 on Saturday.

“They took over in the second, and we didn't have an answer,” said captain Rasmus Dahlin. "We’ve got to regroup and focus on the next one.” 

Buffalo opened the scoring early for the fourth time in five games this round, as a shot deflected off Jason Zucker for his first goal of the playoffs. That got the ball rolling in an action-packed first period. Cole Caufield tied it for Montreal. Josh Doan put the Sabres ahead again. Alexandre Texier struck back nine seconds later with a redirection off his skate.

Konsta Helenius then scored his first career playoff goal to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead, which held until the intermission despite a handful of additional chances both ways – including a couple more from the Sabres’ rookie forward.

“We wish were up 3-0 instead of 3-2. We definitely could have prevented those couple goals,” Alex Tuch said. “But they’re a good team, so they’re going to score. So, we have to make sure we’re getting back to our game, especially defensively, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Then came the turning point in the second period, when the Sabres came out and pushed hard for an insurance tally. Zach Benson had one of his dominant forechecking shifts to set up some scoring chances. Tage Thompson got free on a breakaway and went wide on Jakub Dobes, but he couldn’t lift his forehand shot over the pad.

At the 8:01 mark, Montreal, outshot 5-1 in the period to that point, tied it 3-3 as Lane Hutson fed a backdoor Josh Anderson for the tying goal. That play seemed to completely swing momentum in favor of the Canadiens, who then surged ahead on goals from Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki.

“That can be deflating,” Tuch said of the early-period chances that came up empty. “We can’t let that leak into the room there. We’ve got to do a better job of just getting back after it, even if they tie it up.”

Analyzed coach Lindy Ruff: “I thought they had a pretty good push there for seven or eight minutes where we didn’t execute as well as we needed to execute. I thought some of our puck play, we were missing passes. We were going north in a hurry early in the game, and then the second period, we just slowed it down.”

Alex Lyon entered at the start of the third period for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made 18 saves on 23 shots. While some of Montreal’s goals were great passing plays that gave Luukkonen no chance, the Evans goal was a loose puck along the goal line after Ivan Demidov’s wide-angle shot leaked through Buffalo’s goalie.

“I think that’s one that he would want back. So, if I would’ve made a decision (earlier), would it have made a difference? Possibly,” Ruff said. “But all year, we haven’t made it about our goaltender, and we’re not gonna make it about our goaltender now.”

In consecutive series, now, the NHL’s fourth-best home team from the regular season has gone 1-2 at KeyBank Center – “It’s unacceptable,” Dahlin said. But now the Sabres’ attention shifts to the road, where they’ve gone 4-1 these playoffs and will have to grind out another win at the raucous Bell Centre to extend their season.

“If our road play is what we need to carry us through this,” Ruff said, “then we go to Montreal and we win a game, and we come back. And when we come back, we’re gonna pretend we’re on the road.”

Here’s more from the loss.

Penalties prove costly

After a penalty-filled Game 4, the Sabres and Canadiens went 33 minutes without one in Game 5. Embellishment was a talking point between games, and the officials seemed less inclined to call infractions.

Buffalo finally got a power play in a 3-3 tie but couldn’t cash in. Montreal, meanwhile, went 2-for-2 on the man advantage, getting its fifth and sixth goals from Suzuki and Demidov to put the game away.

First line struggles

The Benson-Doan-Josh Norris line has continued to produce, and Helenius has sparked his group, but the Sabres’ top trio of Thompson, Tuch and Peyton Krebs hasn’t been at its best, offensively. While Thompson had four points (2+2) in Montreal, Tuch and Krebs have both gone without a point in the series.

“I can’t play the way I’m playing right now,” said Tuch, who had two shots on goal and three more attempts in Game 5. “Just going to be will and determination, but I’ve got to move past it, I’ve got to move on to the next game and I’ve got to be better for the guys in this room.”

Ruff briefly separated Thompson and Tuch onto different lines in the third period, the coach noted, but there was no question those guys would be on the ice as Buffalo continued pushing for a late comeback.

“You’ve got to believe in your top guys,” Ruff said, “and they’ve got to get it done for you.”

Fast starts not lasting

The Sabres have opened the scoring 4:31 into Game 1, 53 seconds into Game 3, 6:32 into Game 4 and two minutes into Game 5. In the last three instances, though, Montreal has tied it before the first intermission.

No lead feels safe against Montreal's high-flying offense, and the Sabres haven't led by multiple goals since Game 1. Looking ahead to Game 6, it'll take a lot more than one goal to dull the excitable 21,000 at the Bell Centre.

“We've got to make sure we have four or five really hard shifts after we score,” Dahlin said. “We kind of let them score right away on us, and that just kills our momentum. That's one area we've been talking about a lot, but we’ve got to continue to get better at that and get ready for the next one.”

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres will try to stay alive as they return Montreal for Game 6 on Saturday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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.

Info and tickets: Game 6 watch party at KeyBank Center