Doan, McLeod spark Sabres to win against Canadiens in Game 1 of Eastern 2nd Round

BUFFALO -- Josh Doan and Ryan McLeod each had a goal and an assist for the Buffalo Sabres, who defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.​

Zach Benson had two assists, and Alex Lyon made 26 saves for the Sabres, who are the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division. They are playing in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“I think maybe first series we had a little bit of jitters,” McLeod said of the six-game victory against the Boston Bruins in the first round, when Buffalo allowed the first goal in each of the first three games. “I think we just kind of settled in today and got out to our game and got the win.”

Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach scored, and Jakub Dobes made 12 saves for the Canadiens, who are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic.

“Buffalo has a really good rush game. You really have to manage the puck through the neutral zone, which I thought for the most part we did,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “But I feel like you have to manage the puck in the O-zone too. A lot of 50-50 battles, you’ve got to be on the right side of it … so we have to do better there.

“I felt our top guys got more touches in space and stuff. And that's what I liked. And I liked that we battled. It wasn't the start that we wanted in the game, in the series. But we're going to keep going.”

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be here on Friday (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Doan gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 4:31 of the first period. After Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson fell down trying to make a play on the puck in the neutral zone, Benson went in on a 2-on-1 with Doan. Benson’s leg kick in the left face-off circle fooled Dobes into thinking he was going to shoot, and he instead sent a pass behind the skates of sliding Montreal defenseman Noah Dobson over to Doan, who was driving to the back door for the tap-in. 

“I think we wanted an emphasis on getting to their ‘D’ early and trying to force turnovers,” Doan said. “Obviously, ‘Benny’ does an unbelievable job of that throughout every game, but great start by him there, and I think that got the building on its feet.”

McLeod scored on the power play to make it 2-0 at 13:26. Benson collected the puck in front and quickly fed it to McLeod on the goal line, where he put it into an open right side.

“We shot ourselves in the foot there and were down 2-0,” said Suzuki, the Canadiens captain. “Just kind of clawed our way back and thought we played a pretty good game after that. ... Now we know kind of what's going to happen for the rest of the series, and hopefully we can improve on that.”

Suzuki cut it to 2-1 with a goal on the man-advantage at 19:16. Juraj Slafkovsky slid a pass through the crease to Suzuki, who tapped it in from the left post.

Jordan Greenway beat Dobes with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to push the lead to 3-1 at 3:32 of the second period.

Following a failed clearing attempt by Montreal, Bowen Byram increased it to 4-1 on the power play at 9:01. He put a snap shot over a screened Dobes’ blocker from the top of the slot for his fourth goal of the postseason.

“He really relishes the opportunity to be playing for something big,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of the defenseman. “To win a playoff series, getting another playoff series and a possible win on a second series. He's trying to make every play count. He's been there before, and he's got that taste, and you can see the hunger he has.”

Dach made it 4-2 at 16:31. Lyon broke up his pass attempt to Zachary Bolduc in front, but the puck came back to a falling Dach, who backhanded it over the goalie’s left arm from the right side.

“Tried to make a play on a 2-on-1 and just tried to whack it, honestly,” Dach said. “Tried to whack it across the crease to, I think ‘Boldy’ was over there. Didn't really plan on that going over the goalie’s shoulder.”

NOTES: Suzuki is the second Canadiens skater in the past 25 years with a five-game road point streak to open the playoffs, joining Scott Gomez (six games in 2010). Suzuki has six points (two goals, four assists) during the streak. … Benson is the fourth player in Buffalo history with consecutive multipoint playoff games at age 20 or younger. He had a goal and an assist in Game 6 against Boston. … Byram’s goal moved him into a tie with Mike Ramsey (1983), Jason Woolley (1999) and Alexei Zhitnik (1999) for the most by a Sabres defenseman in a playoff year. … Buffalo got its first win past the first round since Game 4 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators, a 3-2 victory.