MONTREAL – Center Tage Thompson sat at his stall on Sunday, sounding unshaken as he calmly answered questions from a throng of reporters following the Buffalo Sabres’ ugly 6-2 loss to the Canadiens.
In losing by four goals for the second consecutive game, the Sabres fell behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven second-round series.
In the Canadiens, the Sabres, the NHL’s best team over the last five months, have possibly met their match.
After Thompson scored 53 seconds into Sunday’s game in the raucous Bell Centre, they held on for dear life, getting bailed out by goalie Alex Lyon until Alex Newhook tied the game at 15:31.
The Sabres, whose ability to remain even-keeled has buoyed them, got “a little too emotional,” Thompson said, worrying about things out of their control like the officiating.
The Canadiens exploited that and more sloppiness and defensive lapses from the Sabres, scoring three goals in the second period to open up a 4-1 lead before the capacity crowd of 20,962 fans.
Right now, the Sabres, who play Game 4 here on Tuesday, look like they’re in real trouble.
But Thompson, having experienced the Sabres’ stunning worst-to-first turnaround, won’t panic after two losses in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“We’ve been doing it all year,” he said. “I mean, we’ve had our backs against the wall the entire season and dug ourselves out of a hole and found a way. It’s not something that’s foreign to us by any means. It’s been two games, so I’m not too concerned.”
The Sabres’ ability to bounce back after losses and refocus has been one of their greatest strengths.
In the past five months, they’ve lost three consecutive games just once. That comes with a caveat. When they dropped three straight contests from March 22 to 27, two of those setbacks came in overtime.
They haven’t lost three consecutive games in regulation since Dec. 3 to 8. On Dec. 9, they began their 10-game winning streak and climb up the standings.
The Sabres always seem to have an answer, even an emphatic response.
You almost expected one Sunday, because while they’ve occasionally lost two straight games, they rarely have back-to-back clunkers.
The Canadiens have often neutralized the Sabres’ speedy attack. Meanwhile, Ruff said the Sabres have “fueled some of their some of their aggression” with their sloppy puck play.
“They get on you,” Ruff said. “They force some of those plays. I’ll give them a lot of credit. … They are a hell of a team. Don’t take them for granted. Now if we don’t realize it now, we’re never going to realize it.”
Thompson, who ended a season-long seven-game goal drought following his ugly minus-4 performance in Friday’s 5-1 home loss, sounded introspective as he explained the Sabres’ struggles.
“We know what we need to do; it’s not a secret, there’s no magic answer, it’s just gonna come down to will,” he said. “Just competing harder. And I think we have the guys that can do it and the guys that are gonna respond. Needed a response after the last game; I thought we had a great response at the start of the game.”
Lyon said “we’re going to get back on the horse.”
“Some adversity for us, some mental toughness,” he said. “But we’re not going to shy away from it.”
Thompson said “everyone in this room has better.”
“It starts with me, starts with (captain Rasmus Dahlin), (winger Alex Tuch), he said. “There’s more in the tank, there’s more we can do, another level we can get to, and we’ve just got to find it.”
They better find it in a hurry.
Dahlin scored a power-play goal in the third period to narrow the margin to 4-2. Thompson ended his drought. Tuch, who scored a team-high four goals in the Sabres’ first-round series against the Boston Bruins, is pointless against the Canadiens.
Meanwhile, some of the Canadiens’ stars busted out of slumps in Game 3.
Winger Cole Caufield’s power-play goal 6:05 into the second period made it 2-1 and ended a five-game drought. It was just his second goal of the postseason. Winger Juraj Slafkovsky’s power-play goal later in the second period ended an eight-game drought.
Lyon, who has been the Sabres’ backbone since taking over for an ineffective Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in Game 2 against Boston, has allowed nine goals in the last two games. None would be considered weak.
He made 28 saves on Sunday.
“He was very good all night,” Ruff said, cutting off a reporter’s question about Lyon. “I’ll stop you right there.”
But the Sabres need a spark, so perhaps Ruff will turn to Luukkonen on Tuesday.
Expect a lineup change or two in Game 4.
Veteran winger Jason Zucker played just 6 minutes, 47 seconds. He took only three shift in both the second and third periods.
While it appeared he was benched, Ruff said special teams factored in his low ice time. Zucker recently moved to the second power-play unit and doesn’t kill penalties.
“I tried to get the guys that were up and running, just keep them out there,” Ruff said.
Ruff said Zucker is healthy.
