Watching the game last night (and to an extent every game in this series) it felt like I was seeing two different Buffalo team. The one that started periods was dominant. They skated circles around the Canadiens, scoring goals and hemming them into their own end for multiple shifts. Then the Bad Sabres emerged, making dumb passes, skipping decent shot chances for a fancy pass, and otherwise making stupid decisions.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with the first line. Alex Tuch has caught whatever Tage and Quinn have and all three were useless most of the night. Quinn in particular seems to be squeezing the stick, getting the puck multiple times in the slot and just, not shooting. Thompson took a stupid penalty away from the play which led to a Montreal power play goal 10 seconds later.
Bright spots continue to be the Benson/Doan/Norris line, with Doan scoring on a deflection in front. Zucker had the first goal, and young Konsta Helenius continued is excellent play from last game with the Sabres third and final goal.
Buffalo travels to Montreal tomorrow. I believe that with a few tweaks, they can push it to game seven. I’m planning to go to the watch part at KBC, I hope to see you all there!
The 40 goal scorer hasn’t netted one since game 1 against Boston. The team managed only *16* shots, getting outshot by 12 for the game. The Sabres lost two thirds of their faceoffs, and gave the puck away 15 times to Montreal’s 7.
And yet, watching the game, I never once thought that Buffalo would lose. They scored an early goal after Lane Hutson tripped and gave the puck away, and honestly, they never looked back. Benson fed Doan for that first goal, and then Benson found McLeod on the power play (after Doan did excellent work in front of the net to gain possession) for the second tally. Montreal got one late in the first to make it interesting on a great pass across the crease on the man advantage to Nick Suzuki, but the second period went much the same as the first. Jordan Greenway scored, followed by Byram. Greenway in particular was all over the ice, hitting dudes and making plays.
Buffalo didn’t have their best, especially from the top two lines, but it didn’t matter. The Canadiens can clean up their game tomorrow night, and they’ll have to if they don’t want to be down two games to none when they get home.3
He pissed you off all game, and he’ll fucking do it again.
The big, bad Bruins needed help but didn’t get it, falling to the Sabres in Game 6 4-1. The Buffalo goals were scored by Samuelsson, and Benson, and an empty-netter by Josh Norris to seal it. Alex Lyon played his ass off in net, saving 25 of 26, many of them excellent chances.
For all of their vaunted toughness and strength, there were long stretches of games in this series where Boston was simply outplayed. It wasn’t quite as bad as the 4 goal first the other night, but the Bruins were overmatched all through the opening period. They rallied a bit in the second, getting a goal from Pastrnak on a 2-on-1 with Pavel Zacha that Lyon had no chance on. But Doan raced into the Boston zone early in the third and carried two Bruins players with him, sacrificing his body by smashing into the end boards to pass the puck to a streaking Benson for the gut shot. From that point on, the Sabres played smothering defense, with Boston barely able to get past the blue line.
The Sabres await the winner of Tampa/Montreal (heading to Game 7) to find their next opponent. For me, from here on out they’re playing with house money. They proved they weren’t just a fluke, breaking two major droughts (making the playoffs, winning a series). That doesn’t mean the work is done. Let Lindy send you on your way:
There’s a tendency with Buffalo sports to wait for the other shoe to drop. No matter how the last game went, how the last series went, there’s always a little spot in the back of your mind wondering how it all goes wrong. You wait for the first goal, or that easy Josh Allen TD, to relax. The Sabres delivered tonight in spectacular fashion, scoring *four* goals in the first en route to a 6-1 obliteration of the Boston Bruins. Less than five minutes in, Fraser Minten gives the puck away on the half-wall, and Alex Tuch serves up a sweet pass to Peyton Krebs for the first goal. That set the tone for the first period, where Boston seemed completely unprepared for the pace of play as the Sabres skated around and through Boston. Josh Doan added the second goal on a sweet redirect of a McLeod pass. Two minutes later, Doan steals the puck in the Bruins zone and delivers it to Zach Benson who drives the neat and sneaks it in from beneath Swayman’s pads. The last goal of the first comes on a D to D pass from Owen Power to Bowen Byram, where Swayman’s pads get caught on one of his own players in front of the net, which stopped him from getting across for the play.
Whew, that was a lot! The second period saw Boston wake up and realize the game was at 2pm, but they were unable to get anything past Alex Lyon. This is the time that little spot in the back of your mind makes itself known again. We’ve already had a wild comeback in this series, you know?
But there was no comeback to be had tonight, as Beck Malenstyn tips a Jordan Greenway shot into the net to get to 5-0. This is followed about 90 seconds later by a Thompson feed to Alex Tuch at the front of the net, and it was 6-0. Swayman would be taken out shortly after this, most likely to get him some rest after the abuse his defense allowed him to take. Seriously, none of this was his fault, and you can see him letting his team know here:
Sean Kuraly would break the shutout up with less than a minute to go to get to our final, 6-1. The last notable even was a wicked cross-check/sucker punch combo away from the play by Nikita Zadorov on Rasmus Dahlin:
Lindy Ruff stated after the game that he understands where the emotion comes from (as a man who once flying tackled a goalie who hit him in the face, he should) but to me, this shows me that the Bruins aren’t nearly as tough as they claimed to be. Marco Sturm called his team bigger, stronger, and more physical, and maybe they are, but their mental toughness is in question. The Bruins had no answer for what the Sabres did on the ice tonight, and ended up resorting to cheap shots and message-sending late. It didn’t come off as tough, it read as pathetic. You can contrast it directly with the Game 2 loss from the Sabres. Down 4-0, goalie chased, they clawed their way back with two late goals to make it respectable. At the exact same point in this game, Nikita Zadorov broke his stick over Dahlin.
Game 5 is Tuesday at 7:30 back here in Buffalo. If the Bruins want to show how tough they are, they’ll have to take 2 on the road.
Okay, so last night’s game ended GREAT (5-0!) despite getting heavily outshot in the first two periods. Colten Ellis stood on his head, his back, his elbow, and every other part for his first career shutout while the Sabres offense woke up for 4 goals in the third period.
But honestly? WHO CARES IT WAS SO MUCH FUCKING FUN! The crowd was rocking, singing along with songs, chanting at the terrible officiating (some things never change), and booing Columbus whenever possible.
It wasn’t perfect as I felt like Buffalo wasn’t being physical, and had a little bit of their previous passing problem, but they figured it out in the third. Peyton Krebs opened the scoring in the first, and the lights-out play by Ellis kept that as the winner. Josh Doan scored twice, including an amazing individual effort where he stole the puck right off the stick of Charlie Coyle and fired it home. Jack Quinn scores the next one on a 4 on 2 breakaway, and Doan gets his second moments later on a beauty of a feed by Hobbit/Vampire Zach Benson (seriously, look at any picture of him). Dahlin finished things off with a 200 foot empty net goal.
Buffalo now sits at 106 points, tops in the Eastern Conference. They play in Chicago Monday, and the final *regular season* game of the season if Wednesday at home against the Dallas Stars. What a ride the past few months have been.
