The Buffalo Sabres hit the road for Game 3 after a frustrating loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night. This is not necessarily anything new for them as they faced a similar situation in the series against the Boston Bruins, and the Sabres have been a good road team in these playoffs. There wasn't any reason for panic, but they needed to be better if they hoped to win.
The Montreal Canadiens had other plans, though, as they would outscore the Sabres 6-1 after Tage Thompson opened the scoring one minute into the game. In this game, the second period was really the turning point, as it was tied at one after the first period, with Alex Newhook scoring for the Canadiens.
In the second period, the Canadiens would score three straight goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead. While the Sabres kept trying to get back into this game, to make it 4-2 before the final period, they couldn't do anything more to cut into the lead.
As the Sabres continued to push in the third, they couldn't get any past Jakub Dobes, and the Canadiens would add two goals to their lead to secure the win. These are some of the top takeaways from Game 3.
Tage Thompson wastes no time making an impact for the Buffalo Sabres
There is no question that Tage Thompson was the biggest storyline after Game 2, as he had a horrendous game. He made too many uncharacteristic mistakes and struggled to score as his scoring drought extended to seven playoff games.
On Sunday night, he made sure that it wasn't going to remain a talking point as he would score a goal less than a minute into the game. It was one of the easiest goals Thompson might have had in his career as Rasmus Dahlin would shoot the puck wide, and it pounced off the back boards to Thompson, who had an empty net.
It unfortunately didn't result in a win for the Sabres, but if they hope to come back in this series, they are going to need more of this from Thompson.
Special teams cost the Buffalo Sabres another game against the Canadiens
One of the reasons the Buffalo Sabres lost Game 2 was their inability to get anything going with their power play. While they would shake things up, and it resulted in an improved power play performance, it would be the penalty kill in Game 3 that cost them the game.
In Game 2, the Sabres' power play went 0-for-5, and Lindy Ruff wasted no time shaking things up. There is no question that they looked better, and Rasmus Dahlin would get a power play goal in the second with the Sabres finishing 1-for-4.
Unfortunately, it would be the penalty kill for the Sabres that fell apart in this game, and the Canadiens scored two power play goals on six power play chances. It was certainly surprising to see, as the Sabres have been a solid penalty kill team this season, and it was a little bit of bad luck compared to poor performance.
The first power play goal by the Canadiens was due to Jordan Greenway not having his stick for a majority of the power play. Lane Hutson was able to take advantage of that by skating around Greenway to find Cole Caufield for his first goal of the series.
The second power play was due in part to the Sabres being without their top two penalty kill players, Greenway and Beck Malenstyn, as they were serving penalties. The Canadiens converted quickly as Juraj Slafkovsky redirected a shot right in from Lyon.
Alex Lyon did everything he could to keep Sabres in this game
After allowing four goals in Game 2, Alex Lyon would give up five goals on Sunday night on 36 shots. However, it could have been much worse as Lyon has made some incredible saves, especially early in this game, that kept the Sabres in the game longer than they probably should have been.
After the goal by Tage Thompson, the Sabres struggled to keep up with the speed of the Canadiens, and they were getting excellent chances in the first period, particularly by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. However, Lyon was making big saves that kept them off the scoreboard.
One of the turning points of the series against the Boston Bruins was when the Buffalo Sabres made a change in net from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. While the last two losses are tough to pin on Alex Lyon, Lindy Ruff might need to consider making a change to give this team a spark.
Canadiens once again dominate the faceoff circle even with Sam Carrick back in the lineup
The Sabres welcomed back Sam Carrick for the first time these playoffs after he suffered an upper-body injury in March. He was a key acquisition at the trade deadline and made an immediate impact in the faceoff circle and on the fourth line.
Carrick's return should have helped both areas once again, but unfortunately for the Sabres, it didn't, particularly in the faceoff circle. Once again the Canadiens had a clear advantage on faceoffs as they won over 60% of them in Game 3 with Carrick winning only two of his five faceoffs.
Hopefully, this was just rust for Carrick after being out for as long as he was because the Sabres are going to need him to help in this area.
The Buffalo Sabres will have a day off on Monday before the series continues on Tuesday night for Game 4 in Montreal.
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