
Bowen Byram and Ryan McLeod scored on power plays, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. This marks the Sabres' first second-round appearance since 2007.
NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Montreal Canadiens at Buffalo Sabres
BUFFALO, N.Y. â Bowen Byram and Ryan McLeod scored on consecutive power-play opportunities in reviving Buffaloâs anemic special-teams unit, and the Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
Josh Doan and Jordan Greenway also scored for Buffalo, which was making its first second-round appearance since 2007, and first overall in 15 years. Alex Lyon stopped 26 shots and improved to 4-1 since taking over the starting duties in Game 3 against Buffaloâs opening-round opponent Boston.
Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach scored for Montreal, which appeared slow to find its legs three days after defeating Tampa Bay in Game 7 of its first-round series. finished with 12 saves, and allowed four goals after allowing a combined two in splitting Games 6 and 7 against the .
The Buffalo Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Bowen Byram, Ryan McLeod, Josh Doan, and Jordan Greenway scored for the Buffalo Sabres.
The Buffalo Sabres last reached the second round of the playoffs in 2007.
The Montreal Canadiens scored two goals but struggled to find their rhythm, ultimately losing to the Sabres.


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Montreal has yet to win consecutive playoff games this postseason, and was coming off a series in which all seven games were decided by one goal, including four in overtime.
Buffalo hosts Game 2 on Friday night, before the series shifts to Montreal on Sunday.
The Sabres were the more rested team, having had four days off since beating Boston 4-1 in Game 6 on Friday.
âI like the quick start we got off to. I know we can be a lot better,â Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said, noting he thought Buffalo looked disjointed at times. âThereâs a couple situations in the game that we gave them a little bit of momentum.â
Doan opened the scoring 4:31 in by converting Zach Bensonâs pass to cap a 2-on-1 after Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson fell and turned over the puck in front of his bench.
McLeod made it 2-0 by converting Bensonâs pass through the crease on Buffaloâs second power-play opportunity 13:26 into the first period. Byram scored on the next opportunity by snapping in a shot from between the circles to put Buffalo up 4-1 midway through the second period.
Byramâs goal was his fourth, matching the Sabresâ franchise playoff record for defensemen, joining Mike Ramsey (1988), Jason Woolley and Alexei Zhitnik, who both scored four in 1999.
Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was pleased with how much more room his players had to create with the puck after a tight-checking series against the Lightning. His only issue is the Canadiens need to take advantage of it.
âNow, what does that mean? I got to rewatch,â St. Louis said.
âI have ideas, but Iâm not going to put my stamp on those ideas right now. Even if I did, I wouldnât tell you,â he added. âIâm confident that we can play any style. Iâm confident that we could play the game thatâs in front of us. And Iâm confident that we can learn from this one and be better.
Buffalo converted 2 of 3 power-play chances, breathing new life into a unit that went 1 of 24 against Boston. The Sabresâ 4.2% conversion rate was tied for 865th out of 897 teams that had 20 or more opportunities in a playoff series since 1978.
And Buffaloâs man-advantage woes carried over from the final seven regular-season games, during which the team went 0 for 22.
McLeod didnât mind hearing questions about the power play on Wednesday night.
âI mean, maybe keep asking, if weâre gonna keep scoring now,â he said with a laugh. âItâs a process of building it and getting your look. So I think, we got them tonight and it was going in.â
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin limped off favoring his right leg with under three minutes left after blocking a shot by Jake Evans. Dahlin briefly went up the tunnel, before returning to the bench, but did not see any further ice time.
Ruff said he doesnât believe thereâs an issue after seeing Dahlin walking down the hallway.
Dach scored the gameâs highlight goal, cutting Buffaloâs lead to 4-2 with 3:29 left in the second. Driving up the right wing, Dachâs centering pass was blocked by Lyonâs stick. The puck caromed back to Dach who, while falling, was able to lift the puck over the goalieâs glove.