The Buffalo Sabres looked sharp for 53 seconds, then spent the rest of Sunday chasing the Montreal Canadiens. Tage Thompson scored early to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead in Game 3 at the Bell Centre, but Montreal answered late in the first period, rolled through three goals in the second and pulled away for a 6-2 win that gave it a 2-1 series lead.
The game turned fast and stayed that way. Alex Newhook tied it on a deflected shot off Conor Timmins late in the opening period, and the Canadiens opened a 4-1 lead with three straight goals in the second. Montreal goalie Jakub Dobeš shut the door in the third when Buffalo tried to push back, and the Sabres never found a second rally to match Thompson’s opener.
For Buffalo, the score was only part of the damage. The Sabres gave Montreal six power plays and took five offensive-zone penalties, a pattern that left them defending more than they attacked. Lindy Ruff said the Sabres had been outplayed for two consecutive games, and his team has now looked outclassed by the Canadiens in two straight games after taking the first game of the series.
Ruff gave Montreal its due afterward, saying he would give them a lot of credit and that he had warned before the series began that the Canadiens beat a hell of a team. He said they were a good team and added that Buffalo fueled some of Montreal’s aggression by putting the puck in the wrong places, allowing the Canadiens to force plays and control more of the night.
Bowen Byram offered a similar read on the loss, calling it a little more of the same as Game 2. He said the Sabres were letting Montreal get to its game and that Buffalo has to push higher, track better and get above the Canadiens’ forwards if it wants momentum back.
The noise matched the result. Byram said the Bell Centre was the loudest building he had ever played in, and the building reached 112 decibels on Sunday. That was louder than the first playoff game in Buffalo in 15 years, which registered a 108 decibel reading at its loudest point a few weeks ago, and the home crowd seemed to feed every Montreal surge.
That matters because the series has already flipped from Buffalo control to Montreal control. The Sabres led 1-0 after Game 1, but the Canadiens have now seized the edge with two straight wins and made Buffalo look like the team on the defensive. Game 4 will tell whether the Sabres can reset quickly or whether Montreal’s grip on the series gets tighter still.
