The Sabres didn’t impress me

Maxime Truman
The Sabres didn’t impress me
Credit: Ben Ludeman/NHLI via Getty Images

Those who know me well are aware of this: I'm an emotional person who, for reasons I can't quite explain, often tends to see the glass as half empty rather than half full.

I'm far too rational and logical to be constantly living by “faith and belief.”

So that's it, then… I'm an emotional, rational, and logical person.

Where am I going with this intro this morning? It's simple; let me explain. I think Quebec fans and the media are WAY too pessimistic and are WAY too quick to praise the Sabres' game yesterday. In short, they're too emotional!

This morning, people are talking about the Sabres as if they were the Avalanche.

Yes, the series against the Sabres looks set to be more open and more spectacular than the one against the Lightning, but I'm far from convinced that this is a problem for the Canadiens.

Yesterday, the Canadiens outshot the Sabres in two of three periods. They also finished the game with 28 shots (compared to 16 for the Sabres).

(Credit: NHL.com)

They won twice as many faceoffs as their opponent and delivered more hits than they took.

(Credit: NHL.com)

So why did the Habs lose 4-2? Because they made mistakes—Lane Hutson won't go down as often as he did on the first goal of the game—and they were undisciplined in the first period.

In terms of expected goals, the Sabres barely edged out the Habs (3.06 to 2.88). I'll say it again: if Lane Hutson hadn't fallen, the outcome would have been reversed, and the game would likely have been very different.

You know, we've been saying for three days that we pulled off a miracle by scoring two goals on nine shots in Game 7 against the Lightning; yesterday, the Sabres scored four goals on their first nine shots.

Jakub Dobes could have/should have stopped Jordan Greenway's shot.

Montreal's top forwards—starting with Cole Caufield and Ivan Demidov—will need to be opportunistic when they get scoring chances.

And if the Habs had started the game better, they might be leading 1-0 this morning instead of trailing! It's hard to get back into a game when you're down 0-2 after 12 minutes.

That's probably where the game was decided. The Montrealers still seemed caught up in the emotion of Game 7, having not returned to Montreal after that decisive game in Tampa Bay. The Sabres, on the other hand, seemed more prepared for this first game. And they were more rested—that's it.

Personally, and I'm not afraid to say it: the Sabres didn't impress me last night. I think I'm more confident today that the Habs will win four of the next six games than I was that our team would win four of the seven games before the puck dropped.

Cole Caufield is going to finally wake up…

Ivan Demidov is going to figure out the key to success in the playoffs…

Jakub Dobes will pull himself together and learn to deal with the Buffalo crowd, which is a lot louder and more intimidating than Tampa Bay's…

Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens will make the necessary adjustments over the next few hours…

And the Canadiens will win Game 2 tomorrow night in Buffalo. They'll then return to Montreal with a new best-of-five series in which they'll have home-ice advantage! #WishfulThinking

In short, tomorrow's game will be extremely important for what comes next.

Since the start of the playoffs, the Canadiens have been alternating wins and losses: W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L…

And since January, they've almost always bounced back the right way after a loss.

In Habs We Trust, as they say.

Let's hope the Canadiens bring their “A-game” on Friday. Because if the Montrealers start the game the same way they did yesterday, things could quickly get complicated; we don't want that!


Overtime

I said it Monday morning and I'll say it again this morning: the Sabres' advantage lies in their size. The guys are all 5'10” or taller, and only three players are under six feet.

For the second year in a row, the Canadiens could be eliminated because of their lack of physicality—which isn't enough to play playoff hockey, at least over the long haul.

I hope Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton add some muscle to complement the top six players, give the bottom six a clearer identity, and beef up the defensive corps. You can't have Lane Hutson and Alexandre Carrier on your defensive corps and expect to win the Stanley Cup. And it's not Hutson who's the problem…

The NHL playoffs aren't just about talent. And that won't change…

It's up to Montreal's management to adapt.

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