Lindy Ruff made several changes ahead of Game 4 that helped spark the Buffalo Sabres to a win over the Montreal Canadiens. After a loss in Game 5, the Sabres have their backs against the wall, and the Sabres' head coach might have to make his toughest lineup decision yet in the entire playoffs and split up the top line.
Since the Olympic Break, the Sabres have almost exclusively gone with Tage Thompson, Peyton Krebs, and Alex Tuch as their top line. It was a productive group, and in 27 regular-season games, they outscored their opponents 17 to 8 when on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.
This series has been a completely different story for this line as they have been outscored 5 to 0, and scoring chances heavily favor the opponent 31 to 15. Teams are not going to win consistently when this is the stat line for what should be your top guys.
Buffalo Sabres need to split Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch on the top line
During Game 5, with the Sabres already down three, the Sabres started to shuffle the lines and moved Konsta Helenius up to the top line with Thompson and Tuch. It didn't result in any goals, but highlights the fact that changing the top line is on Ruff's mind.
With a day off tomorrow, the Sabres now have a chance to really evaluate the lines and figure out what the best combination is for that top line. The easy answer would be to move a center to play with Thompson and Tuch, but it may not be enough.
Tuch in particular has had a horrible series against the Canadiens with no points and a +/- of -8. After the game, Ruff mentioned that he thought Tuch might have lost some of the confidence that he had.
That is probably why it is better to move Tuch off that top line and take some of the pressure off him. It could help give him some better matchups and maybe regain some of the form that he had in the series against the Boston Bruins.
It is a risk, but if the Sabres want the best players on their top line, the coaching staff has no choice but to move Zach Benson and Josh Doan to the top line with Tage Thompson at center. Both Benson and Doan have easily been the Sabres' two best players this series, and having that production with Thompson could get him out of his funk.
If the Sabres want to keep their season alive, they have to win the next two games, but take it one game at a time. They can't leave anything on the table, and for the Sabres, that means breaking up that top line to get their offense going.
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