The Sabres started off the day early, losing 7-5 at home against Montreal in a very entertaining game that although was a lot of fun to watch, wasn’t a great effort, especially defensively for Buffalo, ending our three game win streak.

The Habs got on the board first 4:14 into the game, as Josh Anderson went busting through the Sabres defense off two nice long cross ice passes in transition, beating UPL on the breakaway. Tage Thompson answered right back though about a minute and a half later, going right around the Habs defenseman on a move that looked like Pominville going around Alfredsson and tying the game up at 1-1 with 15:18 left in the first period. Fun first twenty minutes of hockey and I thought we played well. Very evenly played with both teams getting some big opportunities and we go into the first intermission all tied up.

Montreal took the lead back 5:26 into the second period on the power play, as Cole Caufield tipped in the puck past UPL right in front. Just as we did in the first period though, Buffalo answered right away again as Dylan Cozens tipped in a shot from the point from Dahlin, making it 2-2 just 19 seconds later. A couple minutes later with 13:16 left in the period, Peyton Krebs gave the Sabres our first lead of the game, scoring on a ripped shit right in the slot on a two on one with Bowen Byram. With 46.9 seconds left the Habs tied it up on Nick Suzuki capitalizing on a Sabres turnover at the blue line that turned into a three on two going the other way. Only 22 seconds later, Suzuki scored again to give Montreal a 4-3 lead going into the second intermission on a momentum killer goal to end the period.

Devon Levi replaced Luukonen in goal for Buffalo to start the third. The Sabres answered the scoring pretty quickly into the third period though, just 1:58 into it on a rocket from the point from Dahlin. JJ Peterka gave the Sabres the lead back 2:51 into the third, beating Primeau five hole on the backhand for a beautiful goal, entering the zone all by himself on a great play. That goal chased Primeau out of the game, getting replaced by Sam Montembeault. With 9:10 to go in regulation a quick shot in the slot from Emil Heineman tied the game up at 5, beating Levi. Cole Caufield gave the Habs the lead back on his second of the game, making it a 6-5 game with 7:02 left with the same exact tip in on his first goal. Lindy challenged it for something that the Spectrum broadcast somehow dropped and we couldn’t see (glad I pay $300 a month for cable for this fucking bullshit), and upon that challenge being unsuccessful, the Sabres then killed off the penalty. Montreal ended the game with an empty net from Dvorak with 48 seconds left and that’s all she wrote.

FINAL: Sabres 5, Canadiens 7

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by A Town’s Zone (@atownszone)

Disappointing loss and pretty bad effort defensively, but this was such a fun day game to watch today. You should win when you can score five times, even though the five on five play for Buffalo wasn’t all that good, especially in the third. I thought the offense played well and I loved how quickly we bounced back and scored after giving up goals, just not a good game on the backend when you give up that much scoring. UPL wasn’t great, allowing four loads on the 18 shots he saw and Levi was even worse, giving up two on four shots. The killer really was the last two goals we gave up in the final minute of the second period.

Let’s bounce back on Thursday night.

---

Please follow me:

Instagram: @atownszone

Twitter: @atownszone

If you like the site and my work, share it with your friends!

… and tell Dave Portnoy to hire me at Barstool…