James Nichols
There’s two words Montreal Canadiens fans didn’t want to hear following Saturday night.
Game 7.
Yet, that’s where this series is going after the Buffalo Sabres owned the final 40 minutes at the Bell Centre.
After Rasmus Dahlin scored 32 seconds into the game, Montreal jumped on the Buffalo Sabres quick, putting up three goals in the first period on the sticks of Arber Xekhaj, Ivan Demidov, and Jake Evans.
After Lindy Ruff opted for Ukka Pekka-Luukkonen in Game 6, he quickly pulled him for Alex Lyon following the first period Montreal barrage.
The Habs had the crowd believing it was over before it really started. But a crucial high-sticking penalty by Mike Matheson allowed the Sabres to creep back within a goal on the power play thanks to Jason Zucker to send the game into the first intermission 3-2.
That’s when you could feel the momentum shift.
Buffalo came out flying in the second. Zach Benson potted one early tie it, then Jack Quinn ripped a snapshot on the power play to put them ahead. Konsta Helenius added an insurance marker to give Buffalo their first—and indefinite—multi-goal lead of the game to send Buffalo into the second intermission holding onto a 5-3 lead.
The third period remained all Sabres. Quinn added his second power-play marker of the night, and Tage Thompson finished it off with an empty-net goal.
Yet, with the goaltender back in net for Buffalo, Zach Metsa score netted his first of the playoffs while on the man advantage late to add insult to injury, which locked in an 8-3 loss for Montreal.
Chaos ensued with just minutes left in the third as tempers boiled over. Six misconducts were handed out for extra-curricular activity between the whistles, making Game 7’s appeal that much stronger.
Buffalo dominated the shot clock 36-22 and owned the special teams on Saturday night.
Everybody in Western New York wanted this response after the Habs took donw Buffalo on their turf in Game 5, whereas Montreal fans were hoping to wrap up the series tonight.
Instead, the Canadiens’ early multi-goal lead disappeared, and now they stare down elimination equally to the Sabres.
The series is going back to KeyBank Center for Game 7 on Monday.
