The Montreal Canadiens will be here Wednesday night in the wake of what has to be one of the most bizarre Game 7 victories in NHL history.
As you would imagine, the Buffalo Sabres were closely watching the Habs' 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the deciding game of their first-round series Sunday night.
Hard to believe a team could win any game with just nine shots on goal, or with a combined three in the second and third periods. But the Habs did exactly that, and not in some ho-hum affair in November. It was in a Game 7, a massive stage in the sport, and it punched their ticket to Buffalo.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, right, and Bruins captain David Pastrnak shake hands after Buffalo's 4-1 victory during Game 6 of the first-round playoff series on Friday in Boston.
Harry Scull, Buffalo News
The Habs are staying in the sunshine and will practice on Tuesday in Tampa before heading north. Game 1 of the teams' second-round series is Wednesday at 7 p.m. in KeyBank Center.
Speaking with reporters Monday in the arena, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff gave it up to the Habs for pulling it out on Alex Newhook's midair bank shot off Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy with 8:53 left.
"You've got to find different ways to get it done. You watch that game, and you've got a crazy goal, and you haven't had a lot of opportunities," Ruff said. "Sometimes it doesn't look real pretty, but you've got to find ways to win games, and they found a way to win Game 7."
"It was a fun game to watch. It was tight," captain Rasmus Dahlin added. "It was one of those Game 7s you want to watch. So it was fun. We just kind of waited to see who we were going to play."
Center Ryan McLeod said the "low-event" nature of Game 7 made for a fascinating finish to the series. The Sabres and Habs split four games this season, with each team scoring 13 goals, and McLeod said he expects the tempo to pick up.
"A lot of speed, a lot of skill. They play with a lot of pace, and they're well-coached," McLeod said. "It's going to be a good test for it. They're kind of a younger team, like us, so it's going to be fun. They play with a high level of intensity, and it's going to take all of us going."
Sabres right wing Alex Tuch moves the puck against Canadiens center Nick Suzuki, left, and defenseman Mike Matheson during a game on Jan. 31 at KeyBank Center.
Joed Viera, Buffalo News
The Sabres have a huge challenge ahead in dealing with Montreal center Nick Suzuki (eight points in the four regular-season meetings) and 51-goal winger Cole Caufield, who had four goals and six points against Buffalo.
Caufield, 25, has improved his goal total in all five of his NHL seasons and finished two behind Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead. But the 5-foot-8 Caufield was held to one goal by the Lightning.
"He’s got a great shot, a great release," Ruff said. "He’s good at hiding, finding quiet areas, and he’s got a great release. A smaller man with a small stick, quick release, you think you can get to him, but you can’t because he’s getting the shot away. Great skater at the same time. He’s got a complete package and is incredibly strong on the puck."
"They have a lot of skilled guys, but it's the same with everybody: You have to take away time and space, stay on top of them, be hard on them," Dahlin said. " ... When they get time, it doesn't take much for them to score a goal. They have so much skill, so we have to play a solid defensive game in this series."
The atmospheres in the two arenas figure to be a talking point in the series. KeyBank's lunacy has reached levels not seen since 2007, and Montreal's Bell Centre has been crazy, as well. That includes a full house inside on Sunday for a watch party of the game in Tampa.
Ruff said there is no real way to control the Montreal crowd's noise level, other than proper puck management to prevent the Canadiens from having a fast start in a game.
"That’ll be a high-energy building, for sure," Ruff said. "Every building, though, in the playoffs now (is) high energy. It’s one of the great places to play hockey in Canada. To be there for a game, whether you’re the home team or the road team. I know I couldn’t wait when I started my career, to play in Montreal, because of just the history of that place."
The Sabres stayed off the ice Monday and had multiple meetings to prepare for the series. Ruff said it isn't just a case of moving on to the next opponent. It's also about boosting elements of the team game as it heads deeper into the playoffs.
"You wipe the slate clean, but there are areas you've got to improve," he said. "Our home game has to be better. That’s controlling emotions. I think sometimes your home fans can drive you to a crazier level of play, maybe even a reckless level of play. You’re in your own building. You want to entertain sometimes. But we need to get our home game in a better place."
The Sabres went just 1-2 at home in the first round, and both teams blew a chance to wrap up a clinching game in overtime in front of their own fans. Each had to finish their series on the road.
"We've become a pretty damn resilient team. We can manage the emotions of a series, the disappointment of losing a couple of games at home," Ruff said. "Game 5, an overtime game that could have been. Imagine the noise in this building if you score the overtime goal and you clinch the series. We didn't. You've got to deal with that emotion after you didn't get it done."
All is forgiven with the Sabres for wrapping up their first series win since 2007. A few hundred fans greeted them at the airport at 1:30 a.m. Saturday after the Game 6 win in Boston. It is another sight many of them had never seen before.
"To see the city, what it can be like, what it's like now, it's just unbelievable," Dahlin said. "That's the big thing. The hockey is kind of what I expected. It's fast. It's hard. It's fun. You really understand now, or I realize now, this is what you want to do every year. So I'm having a ton of fun."