4 things that stood out in Sabres brutal loss to Canadiens in Game 3

Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and ChronicleMon, May 11, 2026 at 11:13 AM UTC

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There were so many years during the Buffalo Sabres’ embarrassing playoff drought when you’d watch the Stanley Cup playoffs and think to yourself, this is just a different game than whatever it is the Sabres were playing.

You’d try to picture the Sabres going against teams like the Lightning, or the Hurricanes, or the Panthers, and you knew they would have had zero chance even if they had found a way to sneak into the tournament.

Unfortunately, that’s what it felt like in a disastrous Game 3 Sunday night in the psychotic Bell Centre as the Sabres didn't look like they belonged in the same ice surface as Montreal and got steamrollered by the Canadiens 6-2, thus falling into a two games to one hole in the best-of-seven second-round series.

“I said before this started: They beat a hell of a (Tampa Bay) team; they are a hell of a team,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. “Don’t take them for granted. If we don’t realize it now, we’re never going to realize it.”

Tage Thompson scored 53 seconds into the game, but then for pretty much the rest of the night, it was as one-sided as a playoff game could be and if not for goalie Alex Lyon, especially during the first two periods, the Canadiens could have scored 10 in this game.

There was a moment in the first period during a post-whistle scrum where Montreal’s Kirby Dach simultaneously had Connor Timmins and Sam Carrick in choke holds and it unwittingly served as a representation of the entire game in that it was like men against boys.

Here are my observations:

Tage Thompson quieted the masses, briefly

Thompson faced so much scrutiny following his Game 2 performance, one that he admitted was a disaster, and then he made it worse in the locker room afterward when he told a reporter that his injury status was “none of your business.”

That led to all kinds of speculation regarding what is ailing Thompson because if he wasn’t fighting an injury, he would have said so. And if he is hurt, he should have done what all athletes do in that situation - lie through his teeth and say he’s fine. Saying what he said threw gasoline into the fire following a brutal loss.

But all of that was forgotten in the first minute because on the first shift of the game Thompson made quite a statement as he momentarily silenced the Montreal mob. Rasmus Dahlin’s slap shot missed the net but it caromed off the back boards right onto Thompson’s stick and he directed it past Canadiens’ goalie Jakub Dobes for his first goal since Game 1 against Boston.

Unfortunately for the Sabres, that was the highlight of the night because soon thereafter, the Canadiens buzzed them into oblivion with their speed and skill and that building was in an uproar for the next two-plus hours.

And though Thompson also had the primary assist on Dahlin’s second-period power-play goal for a two-point night, he was still far from the elite player we’ve come to know. He was on the ice for three Montreal goals to finish minus-2 for the game, same as the other two stars on the team, Dahlin and Alex Tuch.

“It’s about everyone in this room and just getting to our game,” Thompson said. “I think we worried about other things that were out of our control - the ref, the calls, what they were doing, just a little distracted. Everyone in this room has to be better, we still haven’t gotten to what I think is our best game and obviously it starts with me, it starts with ‘Dahls’, ‘Tuchy’ and there’s more in the tank.”

The Sabres’ defensive coverage was pathetic

It was hard to fathom how ridiculously bad the Sabres were in their own end during the first period. Their coverage was about as effective as a rearview mirror air freshener inside a Dumpster.

Thompson’s goal gave them an early lift, but they did not build off that and in fact it seemed to energize the Canadiens who spent the rest of the opening 20 minutes peppering Lyon with high danger chances and it was a minor miracle that he allowed only one goal on 14 shots.

“Montreal is a good team; they made us pay for our decisions,” Ruff said of the Canadiens who, for the first time this postseason have won two games in a row. “We’ve made some uncharacteristic decisions with the puck that we haven’t made, even through the six games with Boston.”

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Before Alex Newhook tied it at 1-1 at 15:31, Lyon made four or five saves where the Montreal shooter was somehow left all alone. On the goal, defenseman Bo Byram and Connor Timmins were both behind the net and they lost a battle as Newhook slid the puck out to Jake Evans who was inexplicably all by himself because all three Buffalo forwards were outside the faceoff dots, leaving a gaping hole.

Lyon stopped Evans, but the rebound came right to Newhook who was uncovered at the bottom of the left circle and he had an open net which he did not miss.

“He was very good all night,” Ruff said of his goalie who was left out to dry like summer laundry in the backyard as Montreal poured 36 shots on net by the end of it, nearly half of them quality scoring chances.

Second period decided the outcome

As good as the Canadiens were in the first period, they were better in the second and they scored three times in a span of 6:12 to put the game out of reach. In terms of high danger scoring chances in the middle period, Montreal owned a 10-1 advantage.

Cole Caufield, a 51-goal scorer in the regular season, finally broke through as he was set up on a gorgeous play by defenseman Lane Hutson during a power play and was all alone with an open net staring at him which was redundant in this game.

The count grew to 3-1 thanks to a terrible sequence by defenseman Logan Stanley. First, he made a lousy pass from center that became a turnover at the Buffalo blue line. Then, the puck was sent up the boards and he missed so it carried into the Sabres zone which led to a 2-on-1 break the other way.

Certainly not a speed demon, Stanley didn’t get back quick enough to challenge Joe Veleno who tracked the puck down in the right circle, and finally, Stanley couldn’t stop and defend when Veleno fed Zach Bolduc barreling down the middle after he skated right past Thompson and Tuch who were terrible on the backcheck and Bolduc one-timed a shot over Lyon’s blocker.

“You look at that goal, easy play in the neutral zone, should be an easy pass to (Peyton) Krebs, we miss the play and it goes the other way,” Ruff said. “Our puck play is still not to a level I’d like it.”

And then it was 4-1 because on another Montreal power play, the Sabres lost the initial faceoff and never got out of their zone and eventually, Hutson fired a shot that Juraj Slafkovsky tipped over Lyon’s right shoulder.

“They played a strong game tonight, they played better than us, the second period got away a little, but, you think about your own game, I wish I could’ve made another save in there,” Lyon said. “They showed why they are a dangerous team.”

Sabres’ power play gave them hope

At 4-1, the game certainly felt over, but just 2:29 after Slafkovsky’s goal Buffalo’s much-maligned power play came to life and for the first time all night, the Canadiens were on their heels a bit.

Ruff put together a new No. 1 unit that included Thompson, Jack Quinn, Zach Benson, Rasmus Dahlin and Josh Doan and it came through at 14:46 of the second. Thompson won the faceoff giving the Sabres immediate control and just 16 seconds into the man advantage, Thompson fed Dahlin who worked his way to the slot and fired a shot through a screen that rang off the left post and into the mesh and that energized the Sabres.

Starting the third, the Sabres tested goalie Jakub Dobes a couple times early and then Hutson was penalized for interference at 4:22 and here was the Sabres chance to get back into it. On this man advantage, the Sabres’ power play looked like Montreal’s as they kept the puck in the zone and had several chances to score and cut the deficit to one, but Dobes stood tall.

“He made big saves, especially at the start of the third,” Byram said of the rookie Dobes. “We put some pressure on him, got a few good looks, but couldn’t get any past him. We’re going to have to find a way to solve him, like we did with (Bruins goalie Jeremy) Swayman.”

It was as if the Sabres expelled all they had left in that flurry and a few minutes later at 11:14 Dach drove the dagger into Buffalo’s heart as a shot caromed off the glass behind the net, Lyon lost control of it just outside the crease and Dach swooped in to bat it home to make it 5-2.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Sabres drop lopsided Game 3 as Canadiens take series lead

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