The task facing the Buffalo Sabres is not easy, but it is straightforward.
The Sabres must drum up a win when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday or their season is over.
The Canadiens lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-2 with a chance to close it out in front of their frenzied home faithful. The Sabres head to Montreal with a chance to spoil that party and then have the same opportunity in their arena on Monday.
“What is there, five teams left? To be sitting here talking to you guys, I think that it’s a wonderful place to be, and I’ll tell the team the same thing,” coach Lindy Ruff said on Friday. “We get to go to Montreal in Game 6 in the middle of May to move on to a Game 7.”
The series winner will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Carolina swept its opponents in each of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs and has been off since Sunday.
To prolong their series, the Sabres must regroup from a deflating 6-3 home loss on Thursday. Buffalo held a 3-2 lead after the first period, but surrendered four unanswered goals.
This would be a perfect time for a couple of struggling first-liners to find their form. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs have failed to net a single point in the first five games of this series. Tuch netted four goals and three assists while Krebs had six points (two goals, four assists) in the six-game series victory over the Boston Bruins to open the playoffs.
“I can’t play the way I’m playing right now,” Tuch said. “Just going to be will and determination, but I’ve got to move past it, I’ve got to move on to the next game, and I’ve got to be better for the guys in this room.”
The Canadiens return home to a city and arena that will be filled with excitement.
The young squad had high hopes for the season and going into the playoffs. Reaching the third round may have exceeded anybody’s expectation back in October, but now is a reality they can all envision.
“Saturday night at the Bell Centre, I don’t think you can write it any better to close out a series,” forward Joe Veleno said on Friday. “I think the boys know that, and we’re all ready for it.”
It’s the same situation they had in their opening-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal failed to beat the Lightning in that Game 6 on the road, although it was as much due to a great goaltending performance by Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy as anything else.
Still, there was a lesson learned about the difficulty of closing out a series.
“I think it’s the hardest game,” defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. “Any time a team’s got its back against the wall, that’s when they’re desperate, that’s when they play their best most of the time. We’ve just got to stick to our game plan and really do what we do best.”
Though there will be a euphoric atmosphere in Montreal, the Canadiens’ track record this postseason has shown they will likely not be overwhelmed.
“I think we’re just focused on each and every day,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “We’re not worried about the day before. We’re not worried about what’s ahead. Let’s just take care of today. I think when you just take care of today, usually you don’t get anxious or too ecited. I feel like you just stay present where your feet are.”
