Four straight wins, four straight losses.
The Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres are heading in completely opposite directions as the NHL calendar careens toward March.
The team's No. 1 defenseman, who sat out Sunday's 7-3 loss in Columbus due to lower-body soreness, returned to practice Tuesday in KeyBank Center and is likely to return when the Sabres open a three-game road trip Wednesday night in Montreal.
After the Sabres had won the first three meetings between the teams this season, the Habs salvaged the final game against Buffalo by posting a 4-0 win Wednesday night in Bell Centre. It was their fourth straight victory under new coach Martin St. Louis after the Hockey Hall of Famer dropped his first three at the helm following the firing of Dominique Ducharme earlier this month.
Meanwhile, coach Don Granato's Sabres (16-28-8) are suddenly mired in a slump immediately after they won two straight for the first time since mid-December. Buffalo has lost four in a row for the first time since a five-game streak from Nov. 29-Dec. 10.
The Sabres also lost defenseman Henri Jokiharju in the middle of the second period to a lower-body injury. He did not return and there was no update on his status.
What happened in Vegas the last four years (three Western Conference finals appearances, one Stanley Cup final appearance) doesn't stay there. It's the experience Alex Tuch can lean on to try to replicate with the team he grew up loving as a kid outside of Syracuse.
Center Nick Suzuki did the damage for the Habs with a three-point night that included two goals, one at 6:52 of the first period off a Cody Eakin giveaway, and the other at 5:57 of the second on a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by Dylan Cozens. Samuel Montembault made 32 saves in goal for his first NHL shutout.
This one was all about the Sabres' sloppy play in their own zone, especially in the first period. Passes were misfiring all over the ice and there were turnovers aplenty. Buffalo forwards weren't able to find open spots to give their defense outlets and the Sabres stayed bottled up.
"We were definitely fighting the puck to start the game," Cozens said. "When you're fighting the puck like that, you have to not try to do crazy passes. Just keep everything simple. Close support to each other. If we have to, flick it out of the zone and track it down."
The Sabres were charged with 21 giveaways in the first period by Montreal statisticians. While that number seems ridiculously high, there's no question Buffalo had several plays with control of the puck where it was turned over.
"As a reflex, you want to look at the defensemen and say, 'What are you doing?'" Granato said. "But they didn't have enough support up ice for a quick play up ice. We did not have quick support to go North, to advance to the next zone and that plagued us. [They Canadiens] were the opposite. They were quick, North, fast and we just didn't do that on the flip side."
"Their forecheck was phenomenal. Ours was very lackluster," said winger Alex Tuch. "They turned a lot of pucks over on us. ... We came out flat and weren't ready to work."
In perhaps the most discouraging game the Sabres have played since he joined the team, Tuch took note how Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher went full-out to block a shot with his team holding a three-goal lead late in the third period.
"We need a lot more of that in our locker room," Tuch said. "It's not there right now and we have to look upon ourselves to change that."
The Buffalo Sabres have won their three previous meetings with Montreal this season, and are attempting to post their first season sweep of the Canadiens since the 1983-84 season when the teams meet Wednesday night in Bell Centre.
Here are more observations from the game:
1. Anderson in the net
Craig Anderson got the start in back-to-back games for the first time since October, snapping a nine-game run where the Sabres alternated with Anderson and Dustin Tokarski in goal. He stopped 25 of 28 shots (the Habs had an empty-net goal), and kept the Sabres close in the first period thanks to huge saves on Laurent Dauphin and Caulfield.
The Sabres were most effective in the second period, when they had a 14-6 advantage in shots and much of the play. Their quality scoring chances in the first 30 seconds by Tuch and Jokiharju were better than anything they got in the first 20 minutes.
Victor Hedman is having a career year offensively for the Lightning.
2. Line changes
Granato started the game with an all-center line of Casey Mittelstadt between Cozens and Peyton Krebs and had scrapped it by the second period. Not much of an in-game line tinkerer, Granato had multiple combinations going the final two periods. Notably, he put Mittelstadt on the top line between Tuch and Jeff Skinner.
"Our challenge was missing (Victor) Olofsson and (Kyle) Okposo and we shifted three centermen together and they did not look comfortable," Granato said. "That was trouble for us. That complicated things early and throughout. You didn't seem like you had enough experienced wingers when you looked at it."
3. Another debut
With Okposo and Olofsson both out of the lineup due to illness, Brandon Biro's call-up from Rochester resulted in him cracking the lineup for his NHL debut. Biro, who has nine goals and 36 points in Rochester, played 13 1/2 minutes and did not have a shot on goal.
Biro became the third Penn State player to play in the NHL, joining current Amerks forward Brett Murray and former Penn State captain Casey Bailey, who played 13 games with Toronto and Ottawa from 2015-17.
4. Next
The Sabres headed to St. Louis after the game and will practice Thursday at the Blues' facility in suburban Maryland Heights, Mo. The teams meet Friday night in Enterprise Center. St. Louis is 4-0-1 in its last five games and coming off Tuesday's 4-1 win in Philadelphia.
