Canadiens Fall 3-2 To Sabres As Bad Bounce Proves Key
The Montreal Canadiens failed to take advantage of their 2-1 series lead tonight, and they allowed the Buffalo Sabres to even the duel.
Video Transcript
Like when you look at the Montreal, just the, the sort of depth chart, again, it was kind of you expect it to be a very top-heavy scoring attack.
Guys like Suzuki, Slafkovsky, and Caufield, and, by their standards, all three of those guys have been pretty quiet in these playoffs, and it's been the depth guys who are really stepping up here.
So do you think not only that those depth pieces are gonna change the narrative for themselves in Montreal, but do you think that that could be what ultimately tips the series here?
100%, and w- we do this every time, Emma.
Every time we go into the playoffs, we always just circle, like, the big dogs on every team.
So we go like, "Oh, yeah, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky.
All right, they're gonna do the most damage."
And then we get into the first or second round, and teams just game plan the heck out of it, and they shut down the top line, and sometimes they shut down the second line, and it becomes a battle of who's got the better depth and who has the better third line.
And in Montreal's case, you know, what don't you like about, you know, their depth right now?
Because it really is leading the day.
Like, if you hadta told me that Alex Newhook and, Kirby Dach would be leading the team in goals and they'd be two games away from reaching the conference final, I'd be like, "All right, well, that must mean that Cole Caufield would have, like, 12 goals and Nick Suzuki would have eight goals, and these guys would also be just, you know, leading the offense."
But, you know, here, here we are.
It's, it's really been a battle of who's got the better third and fourth lines, and that was the difference in Tampa Bay, and so far, Mike, it's been the difference in Buffalo.
Like, in game one, you could argue that, you know, that Zach Benson line with, you know, Josh Doan and Josh Norris, you know, that was the best line of the night on both teams.
But since that first game, Montreal's really been answering back with their own depth.
