BUFFALO — This will be hard for the Montreal Canadiens, and not just because the Buffalo Sabres are a formidable opponent.
There’s also something in the air in this city. A vibe Jason Zucker referred to on the eve of this series getting underway as “highly addictive” for a team that spent all season washing off the stink of 14 years of futility and is now basking in the fresh new smell of victory.
The Sabres didn’t just break the playoff curse; they destroyed it, earning 109 points for the crown of the most competitive division in hockey. As people about town continued to question just how real they were on their rise to the top of the Atlantic, they answered with a six-game win over the Boston Bruins.
Now the love-in knows no bounds.
“Getting traded here, you could feel the negative energy from fans and outside sources of how the season was going to go,” said Josh Doan, who came with Michael Kesselring from Utah in the off-season trade that sent J.J. Peterka to the Mammoth.
“There wasn’t a lot of confidence because the team hadn’t produced in a long time, and then the first couple of games obviously didn’t go the way they wanted, and you could feel that weight even more,” Doan continued. “Even throughout the year, when we were winning, there was even some hesitation of ‘How good are they actually?’
“But since we won a playoff round, you could feel that weight come off the shoulders, and now we’re playing free and having fun.”
Combine that with the confidence that fuels Buffalo’s uber-aggressive style of play, and you have a potential tonic to the magic the Canadiens have made over the last eight months.
We’ll see.
It’s not as if the Canadiens are unaware of what they’re stepping into.
They know the atmosphere will be supercharged. They know the team they’re playing is a beast, and not just a bison.
The Canadiens also know what they must do.
“We have an idea of how they play, but that won’t change how we play,” Martin St. Louis told reporters in Tampa following the team’s last practice before the start of this series. “You have to play the game that’s in front of you. There won’t be a lot of space, but you have to let the puck do the work, you have to forecheck more.
“We’re ready.”
The Canadiens proved it by slaying another beast — the championship-calibre Tampa Bay Lightning — in seven games.
They’ve earned respect, and the Sabres are giving it to them.
“I would say No. 1, their goaltender’s played really well,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “No. 2, they’ve got as good a top line as any team’s. Three, I think they’ve got some mobile defence. They’ve got one guy (Lane Hutson) who’s really hard to keep track of back there. There’s a reason that they advanced. They beat a real good team, and you’ve got to find ways to win this time of year.”
The way for the Canadiens will be the same against the Sabres as it was against the Lightning.
When St. Louis labelled their defensive game the key and highlighted the way the Canadiens “protected the inner slot really well” against Tampa, he could’ve emphasized just how much more critical that would be against the more varied attack the Sabres possess. When he talked about the physical investment his team made in Round 1 and said, “We did some hard things against Tampa, and we’re going to need to do that again,” he could’ve added they’ll need to do it even better.
Over and over again, the coach has talked about his team needing to “see clearly through the chaos.” And with respect to the atmosphere at Benchmark International Arena, that’ll be harder for it to do at KeyBank Center, where fans are chugging sabres of beer and cheering for what they’ve been starving for over the last decade and a half.
“All of us have really enjoyed seeing it, and how much they’re enjoying it has made us enjoy it even more,” said Zucker. “I think as a team we’re trying to lock in with it and not let it be a distraction in any way and just enjoy it and just kind of go along for the ride with them.”
So far, so good.
Now the Canadiens will be challenged to immediately throw the spike strips across the road and steal away home-ice advantage.
At least they know how to do it.
The Canadiens started the playoffs with a win in Tampa. They took two of the last three games at Benchmark International Arena. And that was after they pieced together the best road record in the Eastern Conference and third-best road record in the league (24-9-8) in the regular season.
That’ll only bolster the confidence the Canadiens have, and the Sabres know it.
They’re preparing for a harder battle than the tough one they got from the Bruins.
“You have to watch out for their speed and skill,” said Doan. “They’re a young, talented team like us, and they have a lot of high-end players with speed and skill, and they’re not afraid to open up a game. We’ve got to be careful and manage the puck well, because they’re pretty productive off turnovers and it doesn’t take them a lot of chances to strike. We’ve got to maintain the puck and try to slow them down.”
It's either that or push the pedal to the floor — like the Sabres have since turning a dubious start to the season into a launchpad back to relevance.
This is a high-flying, gun-slinging team, which has been known to play with (thrilling) reckless abandon.
“I think someone said river hockey is the style we play,” said Sam Carrick, who didn’t totally agree (or disagree) with the assertion. “I think we like to play a fast game. We can match that physicality, we can match that toughness when we have to, but we want to be on our toes at all times and not give a team any space. Especially through the neutral zone to the offensive zone and defensive zone. We want them to feel like they have no time out there, and part of that’s playing fast.”
Part of it sometimes involves throwing caution to the wind, which is what makes the Sabres both exciting and dangerous.
“Mistakes can be made, and we’re not afraid of what’s behind them with our D and goaltender,” said Doan. “In the d-zone, we can be aggressive to get pucks back because one mistake’s not going to kill us. It’s something we’ve leaned on. We’re not afraid to open it up. It’s not always the right play to open up a game, but there’s going to be times where, over 5-10 minutes of a series, it’s going to happen, and I think we’re prepared for that.”
The Canadiens are preparing for it, too.
“I feel like there’s more risk in their game, and I feel like we can use that to our advantage,” said Juraj Slafkovsky, who added counter-attacking opportunities would be there for him and linemates Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
They were one of the most dangerous trios in the league, and they combined for eight goals and 16 points in four games against the Sabres this season.
But after being held to just one at five-on-five against the Lightning in the first round, Slafkovsky said, “Now we’ve gotta step up and be the difference makers.”
They’ll have to against this formidable opponent that is buoyed by the vibes all around it.
“It’s going to be fun,” said St. Louis. “It should be a good series.”
It will undoubtedly be a really hard one.
