Sabres unable to overcome early mistakes in loss to Canadiens

MONTREAL - Don Granato anticipated a confident showing from the Montreal Canadiens, fueled by a new coach, a three-game winning streak, and the return of fans in one of hockey's loudest buildings.
The Canadiens pushed as expected, but the Sabres were unable to mitigate their pressure during a 4-0 loss at Bell Centre on Wednesday.
"We allowed it to be too easy, too early for them," Granato said.

Montreal's forecheck forced Buffalo into turnovers throughout the first period. Craig Anderson had turned away multiple one-time shots before Nick Suzuki opened the scoring just 6:52 into the game.
The Canadiens finished the period with an 11-4 shot advantage.
"We helped them tonight," Granato said. "We helped them. We were sloppy early. … We gave them four chances early before we got our first chance and they had a goal. And it was all our forwards not supporting our D quick enough or giving them an outlet of support."
The Sabres outshot the Canadiens 28-17 during the final 40 minutes but were unable to score on goaltender Sam Montembeault, who recorded his first career shutout.
Suzuki buried a penalty shot during the second period to extend Montreal's lead to 2-0. Cole Caufield scored off a faceoff in the Buffalo zone less than two minutes in to the third and Jake Evans added the final goal into an empty net.

"We changed our effort, changed our focus, but it was obviously too late," Granato said. "[We] couldn't turn it. We would've needed a break on some of the chances we had, we hit a couple goal posts. But the fact is the fact. We allowed too much, too easy, too early. Period. We couldn't overcome that."
The Sabres were 10 days removed from a 5-3 win at Bell Centre. That game was played in front of 500 fans due to COVID-19 attendance restrictions in Quebec. It was the Canadiens' third loss in as many contests under newly appointed coach Martin St. Louis.
The Canadiens had since strung together their first three-game winning streak of the season, including a shutout victory over Toronto. With loosening restrictions, attendance for Wednesday was north of 10,000.

"We've got to start better than that," Dylan Cozens said. "We knew they were gonna come out with that push. They've got fans back in their building, they're on a winning streak, so we've got to be ready for that. We just weren't, and that's on us."

Jokiharju exits early

Henri Jokiharju completed his last shift with 10:38 remaining in the second period and did not return due to a lower-body injury.

Line changes

The Sabres were without a pair of wingers in Kyle Okposo and Victor Olofsson, both of whom missed the game with non-COVID illnesses. In their absence, Casey Mittelstadt opened the contest centering a line with Cozens and Peyton Krebs on the wings.
"I think that complicated things early and throughout," Granato said. "You just didn't seem like you had enough experienced wingers when you looked at it."
Granato shuffled the lines before the first intermission. Mittelstadt centered Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch while Tage Thompson slotted between Cozens and Krebs.

Biro's debut

Brandon Biro skated 13:30 and tallied two shot attempts in his NHL debut. The forward skated primarily on a line with Mark Jankowski and Rasmus Asplund and saw time on the second power-play unit.
"Biro was good," Granato said. "Real good for a first game. He looked confident and definitely early he showed some real nice skill."

Up next

The road trip continues in St. Louis on Friday. Coverage on MSG begins at 7:30 p.m. The puck drops at 8.