After an emotional 7-4 win in Boston on Thursday, the Sabres went back into the loss column on Saturday in Montreal. The Canadiens were dominant in a 6-1 victory, and are off to a 5-2 start to the season.
“We can’t come out and play like that and get outworked if we expect to win games,” Drew Stafford said.
Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 21 shots and was pulled after two periods of play. Jhonas Enroth came in and made nine saves on 11 shots. Carey Price stopped 30 shots in his 5th win of the season.
Montreal took control right from the beginning, outshooting the Sabres 15-1, but beat Miller once in the first 20 minutes.
Halfway through the second period, the Canadiens broke the game open by scoring two goals in 28 seconds. David Desharnais and Lars Eller each scored their first goal of the season.
Thomas Vanek kept his point streak alive, by scoring the Sabres lone goal. With the goal, Vanek has a career long eight game point streak dating back to last year.
In the second period, the Canadiens had a 2-on-1 break. Christian Ehrhoff looked as if he was going to make a solid defensive play, but unfortunately, for him, the puck went off his stick and into the net, giving the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres fall to 3-4-1 on the year and will face this same Montreal team on Thursday in Buffalo.
“It’s disappointing,” Stafford said. “It’s not the way you want to come out after a game you had in Boston. They just flat out outworked us.
Andrej Sekera took a shot off his ankle and eventually left the game and did not return.
The Sabres came into this game with an 8-0-1 record in their last nine games against Montreal, but the Canadiens finally came out on the winning end.
The Sabres will be home to host the Panthers on Sunday at 3 p.m.