The Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens faced off in Game 4, with the Sabres securing a 3-2 victory. The win evens the series at 2-2.
Ruff’s Pre-Game Message
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was terse before the game, declining to confirm lineup changes. He acknowledged the team’s poor performance in their previous 6-2 loss, but stated the team was ready for the challenge. “The mood is awesome. We’ve been challenged all year long. It’s another challenge. We know we haven’t played our best game, and we know we need to play our best tonight.”
Ruff felt his team delivered a much better performance. “I thought tonight we tightened things up,” Ruff said postgame. “We finally got to the place where we need to be. It looked like our team again.”
First Period Action: Early Lead and Controversial Call
The Sabres started strong, with Mattias Samuelsson scoring at 6:32 of the first period. The Sabres had an 8-1 advantage in shots early on. They then appeared to extend their lead to 2-0 after Jack Quinn put the puck in the net, but officials reviewed the play.
The ruling was that Konsta Helenius interfered with Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš. “Which I totally disagree with, just for the fact that Dobeš is always swinging his stick and he initiated the contact with Helenius with his stick coming across the crease,” Ruff said. “And I thought Helenius did a great job of trying to avoid the goaltender; their guy ends up hitting the goaltender. I really thought that that was going our way. And I know that’s my opinion … just a tough review on us.”
Montreal then capitalised with Alex Newhook scoring to tie the game 1-1. Cole Caufield added a power-play goal to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period, despite Buffalo’s initial dominance.
Thompson’s Equaliser and Benson’s Game Winner
Sabres center Tage Thompson tied the score in the second period. The puck bounced off the corner boards, then off Dobeš and into the net.
Zach Benson scored the game-winning goal on a power play in the third period on his 21st birthday. The final score was 3-2 to the Sabres.
Series Returns to Buffalo
With the series tied 2-2, the teams will head back to Buffalo. Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday night at KeyBank Center.