Sabres' Alex Tuch may be feeling déjà vu in playoff series vs. Canadiens

The COVID season was five years ago? With everything going on in the world, it's fair to have forgotten everything that happened in the two years following March 2020.

During that period of COVID lockdowns and altered sports schedules, the Montreal Canadiens put together two runs in the playoffs. The first, and the more forgotten of the two, saw the Habs knock off the Pittsburgh Penguins in the one-off Stanley Cup Qualifiers (which did generally provide for some fun hockey) before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the opening round of the playoffs. The second run saw the Habs go all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, salvaging a game in that Final before ultimately losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

One of the teams that 2021 Habs side beat along the way? A Vegas Golden Knights team that still had a then-fourth-year forward by the name of Alex Tuch on its roster.

The 2020-21 season saw Tuch put together his third 30-plus point campaign in four seasons. Even with the significantly-altered campaign in mind, he was on pace for his second-career 50-plus point campaign; his first came during the 2018-19 season.

But during the playoffs, he would only record nine points through 19 games, with all but two of them coming in the opening two rounds. That doesn't necessarily negate his impact; Tuch would score one of the two third period goals that helped Vegas rally to defeat the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of their second-round tie. He would also maintain a three-game point streak through to the start of the Montreal series by recording an assist in a 4-1 win over the Habs in Game 1.

The story this time: Alex Tuch played a big role in the Sabres' series win over the Bruins, but he's gone quiet so far against Montreal

Against the Bruins, Tuch recorded seven points (four goals and three assists) through six games. His four goals would include the empty-netter in Game 1 and the sixth goal in the Sabres' Game 4 onslaught.

But so far this series, Tuch has failed to register a single point. He also has a minus-six rating so far in the series against the Habs, a far cry from the plus-eight rating that he secured by the end of the first round. Like how Tuch's point-scoring took a hit from the Colorado series to the "conference final"
against Montreal back in 2021, his plus-minus rating would drop from a plus-five through the first two rounds to a plus-one against the Habs.

The one point of optimism going forward? This series against Montreal is off to a slightly-similar start to the one in 2021; Vegas would take the first game of the series before Montreal reversed their lead after Game 3. But Vegas would take Game 4 after tying the game at one with under 10 minutes left to play and then taking the game in overtime. Tuch would record an assist on the game-winning goal, which was scored by current Avs forward Nicolas Roy.

If things pan out the same way they did five years ago, that would mean that not only will Buffalo take Game 4, but Tuch could have a significant impact to some capacity.

How can Tuch make his presence felt for Buffalo in Game 4?

Head coach Lindy Ruff more or less left the clues to Tuch's success in his brand new line pairings, which didn't see any changes to the top trio.

As reported by The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn, Tuch is projected to find himself on the first line with former Golden Knights teammate Peyton Krebs and Tage Thompson, the latter of whom scored the opener for Buffalo in Game 3.

If Ruff decides to throw the top line out to start Game 4, that could give Tuch a window to make an immediate impact with part of the same line that caused chaos in Montreal's end early in Game 3. And while there were only a few instances of Tuch and Krebs playing together in Vegas (Krebs did record his first point on a Tuch goal), the two have both found success in Buffalo.

The remaining forward lines that made their debut in practice also serve to emphasize Tuch's role in Game 4. The new lines saw the highly-functional dynamic duo of Zach Benson and Josh Doan remain with ex-Ottawa Senator Josh Norris in the top-six, rookie Konsta Helenius alongside Jason Zucker and Jack Quinn, and Ryan McLeod demoted to the fourth line alongside heavy-hitting Jordan Greenway and Beck Malenstyn.

With many of the forward lines featuring players that have struggled to find their form against Montreal, the emphasis will be on the Sabres' veterans taking a step up and finding their game. That does include Tuch, and he'll need to elevate his level of play to help reorient his childhood team toward the Eastern Conference Finals.

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