In every playoff series, in every game, there are moments that decide the outcome. Moments where one team can take control, or in the other team’s case, lose it. These are the moments that separate the contenders from the pretenders.
The Sabres found themselves in a precarious situation in the late goings of the second period in Tuesday night’s crucial Game 4. With the game tied up 2-2, Bowen Byram caught Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier up high with his stick, drawing blood. In a game where there were many questionable calls, this was a hard one to argue; thus, Montreal headed to the power play, for four minutes.
Game 3 flashbacks begin to set in, would they rewrite the narrative?
The Canadiens' power play had been killing the Sabres up to this point in the series, especially in Game 3, scoring twice on the man advantage and putting the game out of reach.
In Game 4, Montreal had already deposited a power play goal, as Cole Caufield found the back of the net late in the first period. So, fans were anxious that this double minor meant that another goal was likely coming.
The penalty came with 1:29 left in the second period, the first task was to kill off those 89 seconds and regroup during intermission. Easier said than done, as they failed to do this to end the first period, with Caufield’s marker coming with just 13 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Whether it was fatigue from another period of playoff hockey, or the mental thought that even if they failed to score before the break, they still had over two minutes of powerplay time, Montreal seemed a little more tired and less urgent this powerplay than they were to end the first period. Buffalo killed the first chunk and held on to keep the score tied heading into the locker room.
UPL was Ukko-Pekka “Locked-In”en
Coming out of the break, the job was not finished. The majority of the penalty was still left to be killed. Sometimes your goalie needs to be your best penalty killer, and luckily for the Sabres, UPL was locked in. After allowing two goals on eight shots in the first period, he was lights out, not just making the routine saves, but going post to post to deny some dangerous chances.
The penalty kill was making it difficult to get pucks through; in the entire four minute powerplay, the Canadiens only registered two shots on goal. Even with UPL behind them, Buffalo’s skaters were getting in front of pucks all night long, outblocking Montreal 27-6.
Whatever was said in the locker room worked, and Buffalo will need to keep that mindset heading into Game 5
Clearly, a point of emphasis in the locker room during the second intermission was the lack of discipline the team was showing. In most cases, you won’t be able to get away with all the penalties the Sabres took against a hot power play.
They knew they couldn’t afford to keep going into the box, basically giving Montreal opportunities to get back in the game. After killing the double minor, they would show great discipline, as that would be the Canadiens final powerplay of the game.
Keeping their cool paid off as they were able to draw the lone penalty in the third period, leading to Zach Benson’s eventual game winning goal. After Benson’s go-ahead goal, the third period felt very similar to Game 1, with Montreal having their chances, but Buffalo holding on to take the game. Rebounding from the sloppy stretches of play in Games 2 and 3, they put together a complete period to seal the victory.
When the Sabres found themselves in a critical point in the series, one of those aforementioned make-or-break moments, they dug in and persevered. Instead of letting that penalty be the reason the Canadiens won Game 4, they spun it around in their favor. Not only was that the penalty kill that gave them the momentum to win the game, but it might also have just saved their season.
Buffalo needs to keep their foot on the gas and feed off of how it closed out this game as they head back home for a pivotal Game 5 on Thursday night.
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