The Sabres take Game 1 with an impressive showing | TSN Postgame Hot Zone

0:00 Thank you, Jen.

0:00 Alongside Jamie McClennon, Mike Johnson, and our hockey insider Darren Drager.

0:04 And after Montreal went through a seven game series

0:06 against Tampa where every game was decided by one goal,

0:09 four of those games went to overtime, this one felt a little differently.

0:13 And the Canadians spent much of the night down by multiple goals.

0:16 But early on in the first period, Mike,

0:18 you got the sense that the series as a whole will probably look differently.

0:21 I think both teams coming in this series

0:23 feeling great that they won the first round,

0:25 but then realizing such different opponents,

0:27 such a different style of game is going to be played in the second round.

0:30 And while you can talk about it,

0:32 you can be shown video, your coach can let you know,

0:34 until you feel what that game looks like,

0:37 until you feel the pace and the pressure, it's hard to react.

0:41 I think Montreal was a little bit slower on the uptick,

0:43 especially early, dealing with the different

0:44 kind of speed Buffalo throws at them.

0:46 And I wondered if they were going to have

0:48 a letown after such a massive win in game seven.

0:51 You climb the hill against Tampa.

0:53 You win.

0:54 Are you right away you have to adjust to a new opponent?

0:57 Were you going to have that initial let down or maybe get ahead of yourself,

1:01 but this is going to be a long series in my opinion.

1:03 I think they are going to have to do

1:05 some adjustments because it is complete different opponent than Tampa.

1:09 Yeah, you don't overreact to one game,

1:11 the opening game of a best of seven series.

1:13 And I'm sure we'll hear from the Montreal Canadians owning their mistakes,

1:16 taking accountability for what they didn't do,

1:19 but they're not going to overreact.

1:20 But if you're Buffalo, you're looking at the good things that you did.

1:23 You got your power play back on track and you got to Yakob Dobish,

1:27 who was better than Andre Vasileki in round one.

1:30 That's an accomplishment.

1:31 All right, on that note,

1:32 we're starting to get reaction from the Montreal Canadians.

1:34 So, let's head to Buffalo and hear from their captain, Nick Suzuki.

1:39 Uh yeah, I think we kind of just shot ourselves in the foot there.

1:43 We were down two nothing and um you know just trying to you

1:49 know call our way back and thought we played a good game,

1:52 pretty good game after that.

1:53 So um definitely you know they're deep joining in the rush.

1:57 They're um kind of fiveman attacking in the offensive

2:00 zone with guys moving around a lot.

2:02 Um, so you know, now we know uh kind of what's going to happen

2:07 for the rest of the series and uh hopefully we can improve on that.

2:10 How different did this game feel from the last seven

2:12 you guys played just in terms of space and time?

2:16 Yeah, I mean it felt uh a little different.

2:18 I mean um still a really good team and they're um you know defend hard.

2:25 Uh, I thought, you know, they did a pretty good job of, uh,

2:29 clogging it up through the neutral zone,

2:31 just kind of play a similar system as Tampa.

2:33 So, um, yeah, felt a little different, but it's still,

2:38 uh, two really good teams going at it.

2:40 Is it hard to reset after an emotional game, first series?

2:45 I don't know.

2:45 I don't I don't think we are, uh, you know, worried about, you know, the past.

2:50 I think coming into tonight, we knew uh what we had to do and just

2:55 kind of didn't end up uh executing the game plan early.

2:58 I thought our third period was our best.

3:00 So hopefully we can build on that.

3:02 What did you make of goal?

3:05 I mean, yeah, it was hell of an effort.

3:06 Um just to stay with that and be able to chip the puck over the goalie.

3:11 Um pretty incredible goal.

3:13 final five and were able to get a goal far most

3:23 I don't know a lot more of the same I thought we

3:24 spent a lot of time in there generated a lot kept pucks alive

3:28 uh you know just had a had a few chances but uh yeah

3:33 it's we need to guys need to find a way to you know

3:37 score and you know we got to keep going to the net

3:40 and uh find a dirty one How frustrating do you think Cole is

3:45 getting one goal in eight games and you know you can see

3:48 the effort is there but it's just not he's not getting those great chances.

3:53 Uh yeah I mean he's been playing hard.

3:55 I don't think he's you know too frustrated.

3:58 Obviously there's there's moments of game where

3:59 you get frustrated with yourself but um you

4:02 know I thought he's done a good job of just you know continuing to play.

4:05 Um you know he's a really good player

4:07 and we he'll find his moment to score for sure.

4:09 there was a noticeable difference between the way you guys ended a period.

4:14 Yeah, I mean we got two goals um at the end of the periods and um

4:21 I thought that third we could have definitely got two just didn't go our way.

4:24 So um I thought overall we played a good

4:28 game and good enough to win just tonight.

4:30 So Nick Suzuki echoing the same thoughts that the three

4:33 of you had about game one and obviously

4:35 didn't like the start and specifically talked about

4:37 the quality of rush chances that the Sabres got.

4:41 Montreal did such a good job against Tampa limiting their rush chances.

4:44 They just didn't give them anything.

4:45 There was always numbers back which not only helps the defenseman

4:47 playing twoon two or threeon three but also helps the goalie

4:50 read and knowing that there's not a lot of threats

4:52 going back door but in this game that wasn't the case.

4:54 Buffalo significantly out chanced scoring chances on rush on rushes nine

5:00 to two in favor of Buffalo throughout the game and so you have

5:04 that kind of disparity that's significant and you don't need a ton

5:07 of shots and Buffalo didn't generate a whole lot of shots but when you

5:10 think about the quality of these chances

5:12 whether it's Montreal overcommitting or getting

5:15 beat on a pinch activating the defenseman it's threeon twos it's fouron

5:18 twos and with the speed that Buffalo skates and moves the puck

5:23 Montreal is not catching and and able to thwart these near oddman rushes.

5:27 They turn into really good scoring chats and they turn

5:29 into a couple goals where off the rush speed push you back.

5:33 You get a chance to make plays and Buffalo had two.

5:36 They could have had three off the cross here noodles.

5:38 It was just a marketked difference in how this game was played in the chances

5:42 that Buffalo was able to generate especially

5:44 in the first 30 minutes of the game.

5:45 So this is where the adjustments come in the off day.

5:48 You look at it there's going to be a few video clips that go,

5:50 "Hey, where's our spacing time and space?

5:53 manage the puck, you got to be a lot better, especially on the road.

5:56 So, that's the biggest challenge.

5:57 And you heard Nick Suzuki say, "Hey,

5:59 we did we shot ourselves in the foot early on." I also like the fact

6:02 that Nick Suzuki didn't give Buffalo too much

6:06 because he knows he's in a war here.

6:07 You're not going to hand it to him and say, "Hey, we it's what we did,

6:11 not so much they did, but yes,

6:12 Buffalo deserves a lot of credit for executing on their rush."

6:17 Suzuki was asked about Caulfield and whether

6:18 or not he's seeing frustration out there, and I I didn't see it in that game.

6:22 I mean, he's a goal scorer.

6:24 Obviously, he believes that he has more to contribute,

6:26 but we did see a moment in that game where Marty St.

6:30 Louis was down at bench level having a conversation with Coughfield.

6:35 But it it wasn't an animated conversation.

6:37 In fact, I think they had the tablet out and you've

6:40 got Caulfield there who's asking pretty good hockey player in his day,

6:44 you know, this read or that read.

6:45 So, I it looks to me like Caulfield is just simply trying to work through.

6:49 Listen, he's frustrated.

6:50 Yeah, because everyone's frustrated when they don't score,

6:52 but it's not seeping into his game where he's cheating

6:54 and trying to do things outside the context of the game plan.

6:57 Uh, one guy who has been a goal

6:58 scorer for Montre in the postseason is Kirby Dock.

7:00 He got his third of the playoffs in game one.

7:03 He is new on SC.

7:06 Um, yeah, I think obviously it's tough given not two quick ones,

7:12 both the first and the second,

7:13 and I think we found a way to to get our footing and understand the the pace

7:18 of the game and the style of the game that that we needed to play.

7:20 And I think for our group,

7:22 it's just about turning the page and um understanding what we did right

7:26 and understanding what we did wrong and and be ready for game two.

7:28 What stood out to you about the style of game that plays so

7:32 uh they're fast.

7:33 Um they like to play on the rush.

7:34 They're heavy.

7:35 Um they play well down low in the ozone.

7:38 Uh their D are quick.

7:39 They're mobile.

7:40 Um so for our group, especially forwards,

7:42 we got to make sure that we're we're staying

7:44 with our D's and um finishing checks when we can.

7:47 You had a few they had a few rushes referred to.

7:51 Do you see what you can adjust already to maybe try to limit those chances?

7:57 Yeah, I think we'll we'll take a look at it

7:59 and understand as a group what uh what we need to fix.

8:01 you surprised by the way they were able to close the gap, especially in the rec?

8:08 Um, maybe.

8:10 Yeah, like I think Tampa and them kind of play maybe a similar neutral zone

8:15 where they're kind of compact in there

8:16 and it's hard to maneuver our way through it.

8:19 And I think in the third we were able to kind of find a way through it a little

8:23 bit easier and understand that sometimes it's not really

8:25 the the pretty play that that gets it done.

8:27 It's just about going north and um getting in on the for check.

8:30 How how did it you cut the get it back

8:33 to 2-1 going in the first intermission and then you know

8:35 by the midway point of the second it's 41 like

8:38 whatever was said in the first intermission didn't have any effect

8:43 uh yeah I think I mean first period you're jacked you're excited to go out there

8:47 and it's bang bang two nothing real quick

8:49 and find a way to get some momentum back

8:51 and same thing in the second bang bang um so obviously we got to find a way

8:55 to come out a little bit better at start of periods and get to our game quicker

8:59 how do you think this team managed to trailing.

9:01 I mean, it wasn't really a theme for either team that in the first series.

9:05 Uh, I think we were we were fine with it.

9:07 Um, I don't think we panicked.

9:08 I don't think we um tried to change anything about our game.

9:12 We just tried to get back to to our foundation and um do what we we do best.

9:18 Gone through a lot of adversity in his career and specifically this season.

9:21 Uh getting his third goal of the postseason,

9:24 he has been a positive that you can take away from a disappointing result.

9:27 Drags.

9:28 Yeah, no doubt about that.

9:29 I mean, you think of the career of Kirby Doc

9:31 and how the Montreal Canadians have been praying to get him online.

9:35 You forget that he's he's a 25year-old guy.

9:38 Like, it feels like he's been around the NHL longer than that.

9:42 But when he gets his legs going, he is a tough guy to contain, right?

9:47 I mean, again, 6'4, 230 plus pounds, and he's got a skill set.

9:53 I mean, uh Mike Johnson,

9:55 maybe you did that a half a dozen times over your career.

9:58 I can't envision myself ever having the dexterity or the gumption,

10:03 the will to finish on a play like that.

10:05 I mean, that's a high skill play.

10:06 Lucky to the point, but he finds a way

10:09 to stay on that play and score a big goal.

10:12 I might have crashed in the boards a half dozen times.

10:14 That's for sure.

10:14 Just for style points.

10:15 No doubt about that.

10:16 It's interesting though,

10:17 Marty San Louis pulled so many of the right levers with this team,

10:20 but he did break up that fourth line

10:21 that was so good with Bulldog and Texia and Doc.

10:23 And you wonder if they go back

10:25 to that as a trio just to give them the continuity.

10:27 But certainly Kirby Doc, it's amazing.

10:30 No matter how frustrating your regular season can be,

10:33 clean slate and if you have a good playoffs,

10:35 regular season doesn't even matter.

10:37 It's all it's all about what you're doing now.

10:38 And he's doing do he's doing well.

10:40 And you need other players to be difference makers.

10:42 That's the biggest thing.

10:43 And he is a big body.

10:44 And Buffalo, their skilled players are big guys.

10:47 So that's the biggest challenge as well.

10:49 Uh goalending was supposed to be or or at least was

10:53 thought to be a challenge at some point in this season.

10:55 Jakob Dobish has really silenced those critics,

10:57 especially with the way that he played against Tampa.

10:59 How would you evaluate game one against the Sabres?

11:02 I thought he was just okay.

11:02 Now, he made a couple big saves,

11:04 but there were a couple probably goals that went in that he would

11:08 have stopped against Tampa just with how big of a heater he was on.

11:12 But Buffalo deserves credit for getting to the net here.

11:15 The Greenway shot.

11:16 You've got traffic in front.

11:17 It goes off the top of his glove and then you see the goal here is

11:21 he's trying to look left and it goes

11:23 right and that's Bowen Bum on the power play.

11:26 So probably he guesses the right way against Tampa.

11:29 This one not so much tonight but he made a couple big

11:32 saves just to keep this game close when it could have gotten ugly.

11:36 And we were even talking off air,

11:37 are they at some point going to go to Fowler and maybe

11:40 if this got ugly just give him the rest of the night off.

11:42 But he was able to stick with it and give them an opportunity to stay in it.

11:46 And maybe it's sort of anecdotal because they lost, but

11:49 against Tampa, he felt so clean in his reads and his movement.

11:54 Yeah.

11:53 And in this game, he was not he was not as clean.

11:55 No,

11:56 the goals against got past him, but even some of the movement around the ice,

11:59 I think Buffalo hit two or three posts as well.

12:02 So, that could have gone a different way.

12:04 He was he that's not he's not the reason they lost,

12:06 but he did not play as well as he played against.

12:09 No.

12:08 First time all playoffs the Montreal has been down in a series.

12:11 Let's hear now from their head coach, Martan St.

12:14 Louis.

12:15 Well, you know, I talked about the the you know,

12:19 Buffalo has a really good rush game.

12:20 You really have to manage the puck to the neutral zone,

12:23 which I thought for the most part we did,

12:25 but I feel like they you know, you have to manage the puck in the ozone, too.

12:31 And uh you know, a lot of 50/50 battles, you got to be on the right side of it.

12:36 Uh because if you lose those, it's a threeon two, four on three.

12:40 you know, their D's their D's come, you know, so we have to do better there.

12:44 What I liked totally different kind of feel of a game uh than,

12:49 you know, against Tampa.

12:50 I felt our top guys got more touches in space

12:53 and stuff and um and that's what I liked,

12:58 you know, and u you know, I like that we battled.

13:02 You know, wasn't the start that we wanted in the game in the series,

13:06 but um we're going to keep going.

13:09 Martin, just Marty to your right here.

13:12 Um, in terms of those touches for the top guys, yes, indeed they they did.

13:16 Where did you think they were able to connect touches in the offensive zone?

13:20 What where they were able to kind of string some touches together, I guess,

13:23 in the offensive zone or or what they did with those touches,

13:26 do you think there's any improvement there or or what?

13:30 They haven't had this kind of space for two weeks.

13:33 Uh and and you know, we felt that that that was going to be

13:37 the case tonight that that that was most mostly a possibility.

13:42 And um you know, we did spend some good enough a good amount of time there

13:47 and we're going to have to do a better job with the time that we spend there.

13:50 Uh now, what does that mean?

13:52 I got to rewatch.

13:54 Uh I have ideas, but I'm not going to put my stamp on those ideas right now.

13:58 Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you.

14:01 Uh, so you know, we're just going to keep going.

14:06 Just a little bit.

14:07 I thought he was going to get the plans.

14:09 Yeah, but he nailed it though, right?

14:10 He talked about the rush chances being on the right

14:11 side of the puck in the offensive zone all the way

14:14 for threeon twos, four on threes.

14:15 I mean, he saw it grease off probably.

14:17 And he talked about the start and it was not a great start for Lane Hudson.

14:21 Lane Hudson, I mean, it's hard to criticize him ever.

14:24 He is so clean and so productive.

14:27 He He could be win the Norris.

14:28 He's been He was that good all year.

14:29 great in the first round as well.

14:31 You're trusting that he's going to be great to start any

14:34 series because there's no moment that's ever been too big for him.

14:36 And he had a tough start to this game.

14:39 First shift of the game.

14:40 That's a penalty he got tangled up with Zack Benson.

14:42 Getting used to seeing that.

14:43 He has a chance to make amends.

14:44 He rings one off the post then into the crossbar.

14:46 This is a strange one.

14:47 He heel picks because he loses sight of where he is on the on the play.

14:50 And that's the opening goal.

14:52 His reaction tells you everything you need to know

14:54 about where he thinks the responsibility lies for that goal.

14:58 and then he took another penalty later.

15:00 It's just it was unusual.

15:02 Yeah, he's just so clean and he was good the rest of the night,

15:05 but it's just a strange start for him.

15:06 He won't do it again, but in a game that's this close, game one,

15:09 it was a difference the wrong way, which is not often said about Yeah.

15:12 And in terms of skating and the edge work, I mean,

15:14 he's one of the best skaters in the league, period.

15:16 Uh didn't blow a tire there.

15:18 He caught he caught his foot on the edge of the board.

15:20 So, that's a mistake.

15:21 He sort of lost track of where he was in the ice.

15:22 Yeah.

15:22 Which is unusual for him.

15:25 Can't have your best every night.

15:27 But the biggest thing is how do you respond Friday?

15:30 That's the thing.

15:30 You go in there thinking we get a split.

15:33 That's what what makes it so critical.

15:35 Friday's game you respond and you go back to the bell center that tied 1-1.

15:40 Feeling pretty good about yourself.

15:41 It's more that his bar has been set so high.

15:43 He almost is his best every game.

15:44 That's the surprising part cuz he has been so incredibly consistent every night.

15:48 It was an off 12 minutes to start the game for him that was unusual.

15:52 And he didn't lose the confidence of his coach.

15:54 He played 26 minutes and 42 seconds tonight, leading the team once again.

15:57 Uh, speaking of their head coach, let's go back to Marty who is continuing

16:01 uh his availability with the media in English.

16:04 I'm confident that we can play any style.

16:09 I'm confident that we can play, you know,

16:11 with the game the game that's in front of us.

16:14 Uh, and I'm confident that we can learn from this one and be better.

16:20 Martin, what was it that made Buffalo's

16:23 power play so proficient against your team, particularly in the first period?

16:27 Well, they got good players, you know.

16:30 I mean, the first power play goal they scored, we kind of um stopped the play.

16:40 It ends up back on their stick.

16:41 It wasn't like they broke us apart.

16:44 they just um you know we took the play away and somehow it ended back

16:49 on our stick and and the second goal you

16:53 know it was almost it looked like a high

16:56 stick which I don't think it was but in and it was almost a clear and that kind

17:00 of put us out of balance a little bit and they sent it to the net.

17:04 I I felt actually like we you know we killed pretty well on entries and stuff

17:09 and didn't feel like they beat us with some of the looks that they like.

17:14 So that's a positive.

17:17 Okay.

17:17 So he's taking some positive out of this as he should

17:19 and in and similar to how we analyzed a matchup with Tampa Bay.

17:24 Remember these two teams split their regular season series.

17:27 Uh only a couple points separated these two.

17:29 So I I I don't get the sense that the Canadians

17:31 are suddenly losing confidence in this series because they go down 4-2.

17:35 Not at all.

17:36 I mean, the way you look at it is I I I talked about it earlier.

17:40 If you can split and come back Friday,

17:41 you're feeling pretty good about yourself.

17:43 And there is adjustments.

17:44 I think they started the game poorly and you're in that feeling

17:47 it out process where what's this team going to be like?

17:50 And Marty St.

17:51 Louis gave credit said Buffalo's got good players on that team

17:54 as well and he liked some of the things that his team did.

17:56 So I think it's fine.

17:58 But to a point, you've got to have those adjustments

18:00 right away and get right back at it on Friday.

18:03 I don't think Montreal is leaving this game saying, "What are we going to do?

18:05 We got ran out of we have no answers." Like, no, they know the answers.

18:08 We got to limit the rush chances, be better up the ice.

18:11 But we also saw Marty talking about more touches for their best player,

18:15 more time and space, more stuff in the offensive zone.

18:17 So, they'll cling to the positives, try to clean up the negatives.

18:19 But Montreal is a resilient group and their coach has a lot of confidence.

18:23 So do the players.

18:23 And they'll be they'll they'll clean up the stuff

18:25 they need to clean up for next game.

18:26 You know, not to jump to another series, but I think, you know,

18:29 most of us are captivated by the Stanovven Hall chemistry,

18:33 right, with the Carolina Hurricanes, especially what they did against Ottawa.

18:36 And as I'm watching Buffalo and watching Benson and Don,

18:40 I'm like, okay, I I mean, similarities,

18:43 with all due respect to the Montreal defense,

18:45 the structure they play with, all of that, that line,

18:48 those two kids could be a problem.

18:51 Yeah.

18:50 All right.

18:50 So, with the Sabres playing in the second round

18:52 for the first time since 2007, they strike first.

18:55 But Jamie, as you alluded to, the Canadians still have a chance

18:57 for that elusive road split when the series resumes on Friday night.