Sabres beat Canadiens in Game 1 behind strength of power play

BUFFALO – It took the Buffalo Sabers 14 years to return to the NHL playoffs – and they finally brought their power play with them.

Buffalo beat Montreal 4-2 in Game 1 of their second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday, thanks to a multi-goal, extra-man performance that the Sabers haven’t been able to produce since the last time they scored two power-play goals on March 31.

Since March, the Sabers were 0-20 on the power play to finish the regular season and were a surprisingly mediocre 1-for-24 on the power play in their first-round series against Boston. Frankly, Buffalo was tired of hearing about his dismal special teams performance.

“I mean, that’s part of it, right? Josh Doan talked about changing the narrative. “It’s a [goal] in the series that is over, and we already have two in this series. So it’s going well. And obviously it was hit and miss throughout the end of the year, and tonight was one of those nights where we had to get more pucks on recoveries. We were losing too many battles, too many easy and too difficult battles, but it’s because of us. [our guys] for getting out of it.”

Buffalo controlled the first game from the jump, and Doan played a key role in it. He spotted the Sabers with a 1-0 lead early in the first period, and Ryan McLeod extended it to 2-0 with Buffalo’s first power play goal midway through the game (on which Doan assisted).

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki’s extra-skator goal gave his team a score with less than a minute left in the first period, but the Sabers quickly restored their multi-goal lead when Jordan Greenway lit the lamp 3½ minutes into the second.

Bowen Byram scored his fourth goal of the playoffs on a second-period Buffalo power play attempt, and although Kirby Dach made things interesting with a late-period goal, a scoreless final period kept the Sabers in line for the win.

“We had some good breaks,” coach Lindy Ruff said of Buffalo’s power play success. “We made some good plays.”

Alex Lyon was – and has been – a huge factor in the Sabers reaching their current peak. He was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s backup to start the series against Boston, but when Luukkonen stumbled — with an .825 save percentage through the first two games — Lyon emerged as a savior.

Since replacing Luukkonen late in Game 2 of the first round, Lyon is 4-1 as the Sabers’ starter with a .950 save percentage.

But even though Buffalo scored well in several categories against the Canadiens, Ruff wants to see more of his players before Game 2 on Friday — especially after they’ve had so much time to rest since Boston’s series ended nearly a week ago.

“The three or four days off affected the guys in different ways,” Ruff said. “You get some good drives and some players did really well. I think some other guys in my eyes were a little behind. Overall, I thought some of our decisions with the puck were more up to par, though. There were a few situations in the game where we gave them a little momentum.”

The Sabers dug into their own depth Wednesday night. Buffalo stifled most of Montreal’s top talent at even strength, and while the Sabres’ stars didn’t get on the scoresheet, their third-line players like Doan and Zach Benson – with two points each – made the difference.

Ruff knows how valuable those contributions are, especially since the Canadiens’ top line didn’t score a goal at even strength until Game 7 of the opening round and was silenced in that category again on Wednesday.

“These great goals [by Montreal in the first round] “That wasn’t the case with the big players,” Ruff said. “And I think that’s the strength of our team. That’s been the strength of our team all year. We can put numbers on them. But I think on nights where sometimes your best players get taken care of or don’t have their best night, we have another line that pushed the pace…and that’s what we saw tonight.”

There were injury concerns for the Sabres, as captain Rasmus Dahlin left the ice after blocking a Jake Evans shot late in the third period. It appeared to be a knee issue that sent Dahlin limping to the locker room, but he returned to the bench.

Ruff said Dahlin “seemed fine” as he walked down the hall after the game, but acknowledged there had yet to be any discussions with medical staff.

For the Canadians, Wednesday’s result was a single salvo from which they can walk away. Coach Martin St. Louis already thought he could recognize the progress made in the first-round series against Tampa Bay, and he expressed confidence there would be better to come from his group in Game 2.

“What I liked about it is it’s a totally different feel than against Tampa,” St. Louis said. “I felt our best players had more touches and space and that’s what I liked. You have to manage the puck in the o-zone. A lot of 50-50 battles, you have to be on the right side… and we have to do better there too. But I like the fact that we fought.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted to the game and the series. But we’re going to keep going.”