Game 27: Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada CBC (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo
Streaming: CBC Gem, ESPN+
The way the Buffalo Sabres finished their 2022-23 season, it seemed that they were ready to challenge the top teams in the Atlantic Division when the next campaign began. They lost in regulation just two times in their final 12 games, and Devon Levi, who had signed after a stellar collegiate career, was a driving force. In the end they came up a win short of a playoff spot, a finish they would surely improve upon the next season.
Twenty-seven games into 2023-24, that’s far from the case. The team is three games under .500, ranking 27th in the NHL by points percentage. Levi struggled to start the season, with only two of his nine appearances ending with a save percentage of .900 or better. A few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, he was assigned to the AHL. Despite a series in which he allowed six goals while playing for the Rochester Americans, the Sabres had to do something to help the NHL club out of a season-long four-game losing streak that followed his demotion, a losing streak that may have convinced the front office that Levi wasn’t as much of the problem as they thought.
Levi was thrust back into the NHL spotlight on Thursday night versus the Boston Bruins, a team that had recovered from a slide to re-establish itself among the league’s top teams. The young goaltender faced 32 shots, and for the first time all season limited the Bruins to just a single goal, halting Boston’s three-game winning streak and bringing an end to Buffalo’s string of losses.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Sabres |
|---|---|---|
| 11-12-3 | Record | 11-14-2 |
| 46.1% (28th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 48.1% (21st) |
| 2.69 (27th) | Goals per game | 2.85 (26th) |
| 3.50 (27th) | Goals against per game | 3.37 (22nd) |
| 17.2% (24th) | PP% | 15.2% (25th) |
| 72.6% (30th) | PK% | 81.4% (12th) |
| 1-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-1-0 |
With Levi’s assignment to the AHL putting the attention on the Sabres’ defensive issues, it might be their offensive struggles holding them back most. They’re very similar to the Canadiens in having no real standout producers through the opening two months of action, with Casey Mittelstadt’s 22 points good enough to lead the team.
There is hope for their offence, however, in the 6’6″ form of Tage Thompson, recently returned to the lineup following an absence of multiple weeks. He netted 47 goals and added an equal number of assists in a stellar 2022-23 season, and has points in both games he’s played this week, including the game-winning goal in Boston. He has some work to do to get back on the 1.21 points-per-game rate he enjoyed last season, but he has the talent for an offensive explosion in any given game, like his four-point effort in his visit to the Bell Centre last season.
Montreal did keep Thompson off the scoresheet in the one game they played at KeyBank Center in his breakout year, and did so again when they travelled to Buffalo for the fifth game of this season. For whatever reason, the Sabres can’t put their game together on home ice. Even last year when they fell just short of a playoff spot, they were 17-20-4 on home ice versus 25-13-3 in other teams’ arenas. Their current 5-7-0 mark at home is once again negatively impacting their post-season aspirations.
Performing better on the road applies to Montreal as well, which has a 5-4-2 record away from the Bell Centre this year. It’s also personally true for Cayden Primeau, the netminder tasked with the start this evening, who has lost all three of his home games but won both of his road starts, giving up just two goals in each victory. For a goaltender who struggles with the mental side of the game — and admitted that to be true after his last performance — it’s understandable that the pressure of the home crowd would impact him more.
An effort like what the Canadiens put forth in the first two periods versus Los Angeles would make things a lot easier on their young goalie. It was an effort that would lead to a win versus nearly any other team, and one that may have played out differently if some shots off posts had been a bit more accurate. It was yet another case this season of the Habs proving they can play a competitive game when the quality of opponent demands it, and they need to bring that same approach to if they’re serious about proving they’re ready to take the next step.
