Cowan: Canadiens look overwhelmed on home ice in Game 6 loss to Sabres
Larry Robinson was fighting back tears as he carried the famous torch into the Bell Centre ahead of Game 6 of a second-round playoff series Saturday night between the Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
“I thought they were loud when we played,” Robinson said. “But that was another octave.
“I had a big lump in my throat,” the Hall of Fame defenceman added. “Ooof! It’s pretty emotional when you come down there. It brings back a lot of great memories.”
Robinson, 74, won six Stanley Cups during his 17 seasons with the Canadiens and was as tough as any player who ever put on the uniform. If he could be overwhelmed by the phenomenal atmosphere at the Bell Centre during these playoffs, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the youngest team in the post-season has also looked overwhelmed.
The Canadiens, needing one more win to advance to the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes, instead were blown out 8-3 by the Sabres.
Embarrassing.
It matches the most goals the Canadiens have given up this season — they lost 8-4 to the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre on Nov. 20.
The Canadiens are now 2-4 at home in the playoffs. The good news for them is they are 5-2 on the road and Game 7 will be Monday in Buffalo (7:30 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
After the Sabres went up 7-3 with 5:38 left in the third period — converting the touchdown with an empty-net goal by Tage Thompson — a majority of the fans who showed up in their red Canadiens sweaters looking to party on a Saturday night started heading to the exits in what might have been the last game at the Bell Centre this season.
The Saturday night party was in Buffalo, not Montreal.
Zach Metsa added to the Canadiens’ embarrassment when he scored the Sabres’ fourth power-play goal of the game to make it 8-3 with 2:11 left on the clock. The Sabres went 4-for-6 on the power play.
Cole Caufield — Mr. Saturday night for the Canadiens with 21 goals in 23 Saturday games during the regular season — failed to score against the Sabres in his first Saturday playoff game and was limited to two shots.
The Canadiens looked overwhelmed again on home ice after Robinson carried in the torch, followed by the “Olé! Olé! Olé!” chants and another spine-tingling rendition of O Canada with the fans doing their best to drown out anthem singer Alex Gaumond in French and English.
Juraj Slafkovsky really looked overwhelmed on the first shift of the game, falling to the ice untouched at the offensive blue line and then making a horrible clearing attempt in the defensive zone that resulted in the Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin opening the scoring only 32 seconds after the puck was dropped. The Sabres have scored the first goal in all three games at the Bell Centre in this series — and twice in the first minute.
But the Canadiens got even just over a minute after Dahlin’s goal when Arber Xhekaj scored the first playoff goal of his career on a point shot. A power-play goal by Ivan Demidov and a short-handed goal by Evans gave the Canadiens a 3-1 lead at 10:14 of the first period and it looked like the Canadiens had settled down.
But those three goals came on only four shots on Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had seen enough and pulled Lyon in favour of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who would stop all 18 shots he faced while his teammates scored seven unanswered goals. The Sabres outshot the Canadiens 36-22.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis decided to pull goalie Jakub Dobes at 9:58 of the third period after he allowed six goals on 33 shots. Jacob Fowler, making his NHL playoff debut, allowed one goal on the two shots he faced.
This game marked the first time in franchise history the Canadiens lost a potential series-clinching playoff game on home ice when leading by multiple goals. That might bring tears to Robinson’s eyes.
The Canadiens are the youngest team in the playoffs this year and the Sabres are the second-youngest. That might explain why both teams have struggled with the pressure of playing at home in the post-season and been much better on the road. The Sabres are 2-4 at home and 5-1 on the road.
“I don’t know,” St. Louis said after the game when asked if both teams are more comfortable on the road. “I feel probably both teams want the result bad for the fan base.
“We wanted this for our fans and for us,” St. Louis added. “We wanted this game and we just didn’t play well. So we’re going to reset and go on the road and try and put our best foot forward.”
The Canadiens were able to do that in Game 7 of their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, winning 2-1 in Tampa after losing Game 6 by a 1-0 score in overtime at the Bell Centre.
But bouncing back from an overtime loss in Game 6 is probably a lot easier than bouncing back from a blowout.
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“It’s disappointing to have this effort on home ice,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “We can’t let that be our last game here. We got to do everything we can to forget about it and be ready for Game 7.
“I think guys maybe want to try to do too much here to impress the fans and give them back some love,” Suzuki added about playing at home. “But we can’t just let that affect us mentally. We got to keep things simple and keep doing what makes us successful, regardless of where we’re playing. That’s definitely not on the fans. It’s on us. We got to play better here.”
The Sabres definitely have the momentum going into Game 7 and Luukkonen should have a lot more confidence now than Dobes. Those two things could be hard to beat.
The Canadiens have shown an impressive ability to bounce back — or “bounce forward” as St. Louis likes to say — all season.
But after watching how they were dominated by the Sabres in Game 6, it seems likely the Canadiens have played their last game this season at the Bell Centre.
