Sabres Lose Thompson, Samuelsson, and Game to Canadiens

Tage Thompson scored again for the Buffalo Sabres, before his mysterious exit early in the second period against the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres lost to the Canadiens in what turned out to be a scoring fest, 7-5. Both starting goalies, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Cayden Primeau, were pulled in the game as Buffalo’s quest for a fourth-straight win was foiled.

It was a ping-pong of a game, with the Sabres and Canadiens scoring, tying, and exchanging leads throughout. Josh Anderson struck first for Montreal on a breakaway, before Thompson answered just 28 seconds later.

Cole Caufield put the Canadiens back ahead in the second period, but Dylan Cozens responded with a tying goal only 19 seconds later. Soon after, Peyton Krebs gave the Sabres their first lead 6:44 into the period. Buffalo coughed up two quick goals to Nick Suzuki in the last minute of the second, diminishing their advantage heading into the third.

Rasmus Dahlin scored on the powerplay less than two minutes into the final frame and JJ Peterka gave the Sabres the lead again early in the third. About midway through, the Canadiens broke through with Emil Heineman’s equalizer followed by Caufield’s second powerplay goal of the game. Christian Dvorak scored the empty-netter, sealing the Sabres’ fate.

Sabres Injuries

Thompson took a shift 45 seconds into the second period before not returning with a lower-body injury. Mattias Samuelsson, who also left with a lower-body injury, missed the last 32:16 of the game. Head coach Lindy Ruff mentioned Luukkonen, pulled in favor of Devon Levi to start the third period, also suffered an ailment in practice on Sunday that may have compromised his performance.

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Buffalo, as Thompson was on a 56-goal pace before injury. The hope within the organization now is that it’s not too serious.

“Thompson is an all-star in this league,” linemate Alex Tuch said. “And he was our best offensive player so losing him hurts.”

The Sabres are off on Tuesday, so any further injury updates on Thompson, Samuelsson, and Luukkonen will likely come after Wednesday’s practice.

More Thompson: Sabres Star Deserves Early MVP Consideration

Poor Defense or Goaltending?

Anytime you give up seven goals, the fingers start pointing to find someone to blame. The defense against the Canadiens was poor, especially the decision-making and puck management at the end of the second period. Buffalo surrendered the lead and found themselves down a goal within 22 seconds on Suzuki’s quick two strikes.

The goaltending was also lackluster, as one big save could’ve changed everything. Instead, Luukkonen gave up four goals on 18 shots faced, and Devon Levi only stopped 50% of his four shots against.

Their -2.14 and -1.26 goals saved above expected numbers per Evolving-Hockey earned them a “D-” and “D+”, respectively, in the Sabres Grades.

Luukkonen is fresh off of Third Star of the Week honors from the NHL, so there could be some credence to Ruff’s insinuation that he was dealing with something throughout the game.

Sabres’ Positives

The Sabres did put up five goals on the Canadiens, forcing them to turn to Samuel Montembeault in the third period in lieu of Primeau. Anytime you score that much, there are positives to take away from the game as well.

The powerplay notched another goal despite Thompson’s absence. They have climbed from dead-last in the NHL in powerplay percentage to 23rd in a matter of a couple of weeks.

Cozens and Krebs both jumped into bigger roles with Thompson out and did so successfully. They each scored a goal, giving some semblance of hope that the Sabres can sustain things without their top center if the injury is deemed short-term.

For the Montreal Canadiens’ point of view, visit Montreal Hockey Now.