Questions of the Sabres' physicality remain, but the Buffalo Sabres respond to Saturday's rough 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins by rallying to defeat Montreal, 3-2. In Ryan Miller's absence, Jhonas Enroth made 25 saves to remain unbeaten in six starts. Between the two teams, while the Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-Erik Cole line took over early on for Montreal, Buffalo's Pomminville-Roy-Vanek line eventually won out to give way to Brad Boyes' game-winning goal in the shootout.
Sabres Vs. Canadiens: Buffalo Overcomes 2-0 Deficit Against Montreal
The Sabres entered the game with their toughness and physicality questioned, but they respond to Saturday’s rough loss to the Boston Bruins by rallying to defeat the Canadiens, 3-2 via shootout.
Enroth in his first game assuming temporary starting duties came in with a 1.75 goals against average and a .944 save percentage. In light of Miller's struggles, and against another well-revered goalie in Carey Price, Enroth looked to show he could be relied upon to lead the Sabres without Miller.
Enroth started well even though Montreal took advantage of the momentum early on. The Pacioretty-Desharnais-Cole line created the most chances of any other set on the ice. Yet, at the end of one, there remained no score. Buffalo hardly generated quality chances despite earning an abbreviated power play. On Montreal’s end, Enroth stopped the puck with methodical ease, making saves square on and keeping the game scoreless.
Less than four minutes into the second period, as Enroth was heavily screened by his own teammates on a Canadiens power play, P.K. Subban made a clean pass to Cole for the goal. Soon after, Montreal was starting to dominate the game with the 1-0 lead (shots were 7-0, Habs in the second period after eight and a half minutes). In response, the Sabres finally tried to get more physical toward the halfway point of the game with Patrick Kaleta, Nathan Gerbe and Paul Gaustad connecting on a few hits in the offensive zone, but they could only generate one real scoring opportunity.
However, what their shift did earn Buffalo was a 4-on-4 due to coincidental roughing minors. Shortly thereafter, the Sabres drew a lengthy 4-on-3 power play and a brief 5-on-4 man advantage situation, although Butffalo remained scoreless. To add to the difficulty-factor for the Sabres, with just under six minutes remaining in the middle period, the Pacioretty-Desharnais-Cole line struck again to make it 2-0, Pacioretty notching his team-leading seventh goal of the year.
At this point, if Buffalo was to get back in the game, it would have to take advantage early in the final period. Jason Pomminville made sure that happened as he put one past Price to cut the lead in half 53 seconds into the third. The cause of the goal: the Sabres found a way to make a clear entry into the zone, get the puck away from bodies and find a clear shooting lane.
The third continued to provide the Sabres with more real chances to score, and with over seven minutes left, Derek Roy recorded his 150th career goal as Buffalo continued to cycle the puck while awaiting for the whistle for a delayed penalty. The game then led to overtime and then a shootout, where Enroth stopped two of three shooters, and Boyes brought a pretty set of moves to fool Price and complete Buffalo's rally to win 3-2.
In this match, a nationally broadcasted game, a lot of people were looking to see how Buffalo would play Montreal in response to the Boston game -- not only because it was a rout on the scoreboard, but after the Lucic-Miller incident and adding in the lack of suspension for Milan Lucic's run-in. Some would expect that the Sabres would have come out in an angry flurry to set the tone early. After all, their lack of self-retribution for a player running into their franchise goaltender did raise a few eyebrows.
Instead, Buffalo came out weaker than the Canadiens, a team that is often noted for having a small-sized roster. The Habs did little things like clear out bodies in front of Price, making it more difficult to get clear shots and crash the net, which was part the Sabres’ offensive strategy early on. While Buffalo ended up out-hitting Montreal 28-22, it wasn’t until about mid-way through the second period when the Sabres began to make hits and make the Habs work for positioning -- although this isn’t atypical because they are third least in hits in the NHL (283). Still, it might have been too late for Buffalo, as 19 seconds into overtime, Cole wandered in the defensive zone and sort of “haphazardly” ran into Enroth, prompting a penalty for goalie interference.
This leads into the bigger question of whether it is “open season” on goaltenders and if they are fair game for hits like Lucic made on Miller that shall be answered soon. Either way, Buffalo will still need to up their physical game as the secret is out now on their gameplay. Being physical and handling situations on the ice does not necessarily mean fighting and taking penalties (Gaustaud took three in this game). But with a potential reputation-turned-weakness, they still might want to consider approaching things differently.
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