The Buffalo Sabres’ five-game winning streak came to an end on home ice against the Montreal Canadiens in Saturday.
Team captain Rasmus Dahlin was not happy with the support from the home fans.
“I really, really appreciate the fans that came out, but I don’t want to see that many red in the future,” Dahlin told reporters after the loss.
The Canadiens are among the best-travelled teams in the NHL, with fans likely to show up at any stadium in the entire league – but Saturday’s showing in Buffalo was particularly one-sided in favour of the visitors. Especially after Montreal’s Nick Suzuki described the game as a “must win.”
Throughout the game on the broadcast, Canadiens fans could be heard chanting ‘Go, Habs, go,’ while Sabres fans tried to drown them out with a cheer of their own.
It may have helped energize the Canadiens in the third period, when they rattled off three unanswered goals to rally for a victory. It was only the second time this season the Sabres lost after entering the third period with the lead.
“I think we had a lot of momentum, I think that was a game for us to win,” Dahlin said. “These games are fun, this is when it matters, and we have to score on our chances.”
That game completed the season series between the Atlantic Division foes, who now sit third and fourth in the division. The two sides split their four games evenly on the year.
“We love playing these games, these are the type of games we want to be in,” Dahlin said, referring to the battle for playoff positioning between the two teams.
“It’s tight, and it’s coming down to special teams, I think. [The Canadiens] have a hell of a power play, that’s usually how they win games.”
The Sabres are battling for their first postseason appearance in 15 seasons, which is the longest playoff appearance drought in any of the four major North American sports leagues. Head coach Lindy Ruff – who was the bench boss during their last playoff appearance, in 2011 – knows this game against Montreal was just one of many challenging games the Sabres will have to play and learn to win in order to end the playoff appearance drought.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games,” Ruff said. “We’ve been in games where we’ve been able to close it. I thought early on in the third we didn’t manage the puck really well, probably was the thing that hurt us in the first five minutes. I thought after that, we started to manage it better. Just you got to be able to handle the puck under pressure, you got to be good on the walls. When the other team starts to put a lot of risk in their game, you got to make them pay.”
Six the next seven games on the schedule for the Sabres are against either a division rival or a team that currently holds a playoff spot in the standings. It will give the Sabres an opportunity to prove they belong in the playoff conversation, and maybe bring more fans out to the stadium down the stretch.
“Important games now coming up,” Dahlin said. “If we want to show we’re a really good team, we better win these ones. These are the type of games you can see if you’re a good team or not.”