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The Buffalo Sabres weren’t pleased with the third game of their Atlantic Division final, so they made major changes for Game 4.
Goaltending was the biggest change, as Alex Lyon was moved to the bench in favour of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Also to the press box was Sam Carrick for Konsta Helenius at the centre position, and on defence Luke Schenn was inserted in place of Logan Stanley.
Of the lineup changes, Helenius had the biggest impact. The Sabres evened the series with a 3-2 win.
Wilde Horses
Luukkonen was one of the hottest goalies down the stretch, but in the playoffs, he was only an .825 save percentage in the first two games. He’s been waiting for redemption since losing his spot thanks to allowing a 100-foot goal against the Boston Bruins.
However, in the first period, there was an early moment that it seemed he was having difficulty. The long shot came from the point with only medium speed, and he couldn’t catch it, nor control the rebound. A short time later, Mike Matheson hit the post.
The two goals he then allowed in the first had the same stamp of difficulty. Though the shot from Alex Newhook was in close, it was through him. Not a brutal goal to allow, but the Sabres could have used a save. Newhook has a spectacular playoff so far, with six goals to lead the team.
The second goal was another one that Luukkonen should not have allowed. The modern goalie uses a Reverse VH as the method to stop any shot from in close that stays on the ice. These days, goalies will allow the shot that is destined for the top corner over their shoulder.
The thinking in goaltending circles is that the shot under the crossbar is the hardest shot to make, so take the hardest shot away while making sure that the easy shot never goes in. On the power play, Cole Caufield came from the corner. He had zero chance to score, if Luukkonen maintains his Reverse VH.
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In the excitement and anxiety of the moment, he forgot his training: Luukkonen opened his legs and Caufield scored from the impossible angle. Caufield was ecstatic. His difficulties are becoming a thing of the past in his mind. It was his third of the playoffs.
Caufield was buzzing the rest of the night and was the Canadiens top forward.
Wilde Goats
When Jack Quinn scored the Sabres’ second goal at the eight minute mark of the first period, it was looking grim. The Canadiens were being outshot 8-1, and they were being badly outplayed. However, something happened on the way to that 2-0 goal.
Head Coach Martin St. Louis decided to put it all on the line. He believed there was goaltender interference. The puck had crossed the line by only an inch, and it had already taken five minutes to decide if it was in. St. Louis didn’t like the first ruling, but he got the ruling that he needed the second time. Instead of 2-0 and a Canadiens penalty, it was 1-0.
Perhaps even more than the reversal on the goal was that the Canadiens spent 10 minutes at their bench assessing how it had transpired so far. The Canadiens were flat. The Sabres had made adjustments holding on to the puck longer while defenders tried to block shots, then ultimately took themselves out of the play.
Montreal was very much second best, except for the boost they got from that call reversal. Somehow, the Canadiens played their worst hockey since game seven against Tampa Bay, yet they led 2-1 after one. They weren’t sharp, but they were leading.
However, the momentum changer of the first period was nothing compared to the one in the second frame. The Sabres were on the power play when Tage Thompson fired it off the glass from 70 feet. It ricocheted near the Zamboni entrance and hit Dobes in the back of the leg.
Anyone who knows that spot on the glass knows the trouble that it brings. It is shocking how often the puck redirects from that spot into the net. The Sabres had their equalizer. Hockey giveth and hockey taketh away.
The third period would decide it on a night after two that it was Buffalo’s game analytically. They had a big advantage in Expected Goals after 40 minutes 3.58 to 2.24. The Sabres led in high danger chances eight to three.
They continued in the third period on a night they deserved the result. Zach Benson scored on the power play for the game winner. This series is tied after four games like the Tampa Bay series. It’s not supposed to be easy in the playoffs, and it certainly isn’t.
Wilde Cards
The NHL handed out some interesting fines on the off-day between games. Interesting in that fines are clearly decided based on the extent of injury or media attention, and not the actual offence.
Arber Xhekaj received approximately the same fine as Beck Malenstyn for their two violent moments in Game 3. Xhekaj and Sam Carrick were looking right at each other when Xhekaj punched Carrick and he went down like a giant oak.
The optics of that didn’t look good to the NHL, so Xhekaj was fined, even though that type of punch, whether you favour it or not, happens 30 times a game. Carrick just happens to have a glass chin. If Xhekaj ever lands on Carrick with a real punch and not a short jab, Carrick may not get back up.
Malenstyn’s fine was for charging full speed at the net to treat Dobes like a bowling pin. It is fortunate that Dobes is so big, because that could have caused a serious injury if he were not. Judging by looking at Malenstyn’s skates making no turn to stop, injury was the intent.
Between the two moments, one happens once a playoff and the other happens after just about every whistle, yet they were fined the same.
The incident that the ironically-named Department Of Player Safety didn’t judge at all is Josh Norris taking cheap shots at Zachary Bolduc while he was in a skirmish with a different player and being held back by the linesman.
The Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig took a sucker punch at a defenceless foe in the Carolina series that was exactly like what Norris did. Grieg received a two-game suspension.
One would love to play those two clips for the NHL side-by-side to ask why Greig got two games and Norris got the second-line centre spot for Game 4.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you on after each Canadiens game.
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