BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Ryan McLeod scored on consecutive power-play opportunities in reviving Buffalo’s anemic special-teams unit, and the Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
Josh Doan and Jordan Greenway also scored for Buffalo, which was making its first second-round appearance since 2007, and first overall in 15 years. Alex Lyon stopped 26 shots and improved to 4-1 since taking over the starting duties in Game 3 against Buffalo’s opening-round opponent Boston.
Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach scored for Montreal, which appeared slow to find its legs three days after defeating Tampa Bay in Game 7 of its first-round series. Jakub Dobes finished with 12 saves, and allowed four goals after allowing a combined two in splitting Games 6 and 7 against the Lightning.
Montreal has yet to win consecutive playoff games this postseason, and was coming off a series in which all seven games were decided by one goal, including four in overtime.
Buffalo hosts Game 2 on Friday night, before the series shifts to Montreal on Sunday.
The Sabres were the more rested team, having had four days off since beating Boston 4-1 in Game 6 on Friday.
“I like the quick start we got off to. I know we can be a lot better,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said, noting he thought Buffalo looked disjointed at times. “There’s a couple situations in the game that we gave them a little bit of momentum.”
Doan opened the scoring 4:31 in by converting Zach Benson’s pass to cap a 2-on-1 after Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson fell and turned over the puck in front of his bench.
McLeod made it 2-0 by converting Benson’s pass through the crease on Buffalo’s second power-play opportunity 13:26 into the first period. Byram scored on the next opportunity by snapping in a shot from between the circles to put Buffalo up 4-1 midway through the second period.
Byram’s goal was his fourth, matching the Sabres’ franchise playoff record for defensemen, joining Mike Ramsey (1988), Jason Woolley and Alexei Zhitnik, who both scored four in 1999.
Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was pleased with how much more room his players had to create with the puck after a tight-checking series against the Lightning. His only issue is the Canadiens need to take advantage of it.
“Now, what does that mean? I got to rewatch,” St. Louis said.
“I have ideas, but I’m not going to put my stamp on those ideas right now. Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” he added. “I’m confident that we can play any style. I’m confident that we could play the game that’s in front of us. And I’m confident that we can learn from this one and be better.
Buffalo converted 2 of 3 power-play chances, breathing new life into a unit that went 1 of 24 against Boston. The Sabres’ 4.2% conversion rate was tied for 865th out of 897 teams that had 20 or more opportunities in a playoff series since 1978.
And Buffalo’s man-advantage woes carried over from the final seven regular-season games, during which the team went 0 for 22.
McLeod didn’t mind hearing questions about the power play on Wednesday night.
“I mean, maybe keep asking, if we’re gonna keep scoring now,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a process of building it and getting your look. So I think, we got them tonight and it was going in.”
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin limped off favoring his right leg with under three minutes left after blocking a shot by Jake Evans. Dahlin briefly went up the tunnel, before returning to the bench, but did not see any further ice time.
Ruff said he doesn’t believe there’s an issue after seeing Dahlin walking down the hallway.
Dach scored the game’s highlight goal, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 4-2 with 3:29 left in the second. Driving up the right wing, Dach’s centering pass was blocked by Lyon’s stick. The puck caromed back to Dach who, while falling, was able to lift the puck over the goalie’s glove.
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