A chilly day in Buffalo brought a red-hot scoring affair to KeyBank Center as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Sabres 6-3 in Game 5 of the second round of the NHL playoffs to take a 3-2 series lead.
Buffalo continued its home playoff woes and struggled between the pipes.
In the first period, two minutes in, Jason Zucker opened the scoring for Buffalo, deflecting a long-range shot. Connor Timmins and Jack Quinn were credited with assists.
All throughout the game, Montreal did a great job of not letting the Sabres build momentum off of a very loud KeyBank Center.
Montreal tied it up as Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was caught outside the crease. The Habs capitalized on a one-two touch from Nick Suzuki to Cole Caufield.
Just over a minute later, on the third shot of the game, Buffalo regained the lead. Similar to the first goal, it was a shot from the left of the blue line; this time, it was Josh Doan on the goal, assisted by Owen Power.
Seconds later, Montreal silenced the crowd and tied it up on a favorable bounce. Alexandre Texier was credited with the goal after it ricocheted off a few skates.
As if four goals in the first nine minutes weren't enough. Konsta Helenius, making his playoff debut at just 20 years old, scored to give Buffalo the 3-2 lead, closing out an exciting period of hockey. Both teams combined for five goals in the first 10:15 of game time.
From there, it was all Canadiens.
In the second period, Montreal started to create lasting momentum, first from its goaltending. Tage Thompson had a prime opportunity on a breakaway for Buffalo but was stopped by rookie goalie Jakub Dobes. Montreal tied things up soon after as Josh Anderson put it home on a beautiful cross-crease pass through two Buffalo players. Late in the second, the Habs built on their lead, as Jake Evans poked one in behind Luukonen.
Montreal was able to string together one of its best periods of the series. The building went silent as Nick Suzuki scored for the Habs on their first powerplay of the night to go up 5-3.
Buffalo pulled Luukonen and put in Alex Lyon to start the third period, but by then, Montreal was already entering cruise control. Three minutes in, hope was lost inside the arena as Ivan Demidov doubled up the Sabres' score and gave Montreal a 6-3 advantage.
After the loss, Luukonen said the Sabres need to find ways to be better while also not changing the game plan.
“Whatever's been working, we have to continue," said UPL. "I got to be better too, everybody has to find something to be better at. Five goals is unacceptable; that shouldn’t be happening."
After having a good series vs. Boston in the first round, Alex Tuch has struggled for Buffalo in Round 2. Tuch has zero points against Montreal in the entire series.
"I've got to be better. I can't play what I'm playing right now." Tuch added, "I got to move past it. I got to move on to the next game, I can be better for the guys in this room."
The Sabres have struggled at home at KeyBank Center in the playoffs this year. When asked about being prepared to be up against elimination on the road in Game 6, head coach Lindy Ruff said: "We've won four out of five games in really tough buildings.
"If our road play is what we need to carry us through this, and we go to Montreal, and we win a game, and we come back, we're going to pretend we're on the road."
One other note, Owen Power had an awkward spill into the boards during the loss. Ruff said Power left the game but was able to return, which is a good sign. He said that he will see how Power feels in the morning.
Game 6 is Saturday at 8 p.m. in Montreal.
