Sabres most to blame for brutal Game 5 Canadiens loss

The Buffalo Sabres had the Montreal Canadiens on the ropes in the early going of pivotal Game 5 of their second round Stanley Cup playoff series. Jason Zucker had scored on a double-deflection two minutes into the first speriod and they also put two other goals on the board by the midway point of the first period thanks to Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius.Yet despite this offensive explosion, the Sabres had just a slim advantage. They had a 3-2 lead at the Key Bank Center because Cole Caufield and Alexandre Texier had found the back of the net for the Habs. Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was shaky in the Buffalo net and there was no reason to think that he would shut down the Canadiens going forward.The Sabres goalie fulfilled those negative expectations. While the remainder of the first period saw the action calm down, the second period saw the visitors seize control of the game. They outscored the Sabres 3-0 and turned the home crowd into a large group of library patrons. That's not quite true because the visiting Canadiens brought a number of their fans to Buffalo and the bleu, blanc y rouge-clad fans celebrated each Montreal goal.The Canadiens are now on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals against the playoff-perfect Carolina Hurricanes (8-0 in playoff victories over the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers). The Sabres may have looked dominant in their first-round win over the Bruins, but their confidence has disappeared against the opportunistic Habs.Luukkonen falls apart in crucial startThis has been a troubled playoff performance for Luukkonen. He breathed life into the Bruins in the opening round with a shaky performance before Alex Lyon rescued the Sabres. When Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff had to go back to Luukkonen in the second round, it seemed to be a solid decision when the Sabres earned a 3-2 victory at the Bell Center in Game 4 to square the series.Luukkonen carried none of that momentum into Game 5, and the Canadiens sensed his shakiness throughout his performance. He seemed to fall apart in the second period. He gave up the game-tying goal to Josh Anderson and it seemed inevitable that the Canadiens would take the lead because they were getting a slew of high-danger chances.The goaltender made a memorable save on electric Ivan Demidov, but there was little else about Luukkonen's performance that helped the Sabres. Jake Evans scored in tight on a goal that gave the Habs the lead and Nick Suzuki followed with a snap shot that snuck into the net under the goaltender's pad. It was an accurate shot by the Canadiens' best all-around player, but it was a goal that Luukkonen should have stopped.Ruff replaced his goaltender with Lyon at the start of the third period, but the Sabres did not have enough juice to make that move pay off in a rally. Demidov finally scored his first playoff goal when he wristed a shot past Lyon and the Sabres left their home ice with a three-goal defeat.Tuch has lost his wayMandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn ImagesIf the Sabres were going to nominate a potential candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy after their first-round triumph over the Bruins, it would have been Alex Tuch.He scored four goals and added three assists in the six games, and he was swooping up and down the ice and had an impact on both ends. However, he has fallen down the rabbit hole against the Canadiens and he does not have a single scoring point.He had a brutal defensive performance in Game 3 when the Canadiens suffered a 6-2 defeat and he was poor against Montreal in Game 5. Tuch is the center on Buffalo's top line with Tage Thompson and Payton Krebs, and that line has been badly outplayed by Montreal's No. 1 group of Suzuki, Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky.The Canadiens held a 9-2 advantage over the Sabres in high-danger chances when Tuch was on the ice. That has to change immediately if Buffalo is going to rally for another win in Montreal that will square the series at 3-3.“Offense has been hard to come by for me,” Tuch said after Game 5, per The Athletic. “Think I’ve had a couple opportunities in the last few games. Tonight was nothing till really late, honestly. I’ve got to bear down and I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to – I can’t be – yeah, I can’t play the way I’m playing right now.”While it's not just Tuch who is struggling — his linemates Thompson and Krebs and star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin can all do better — Ruff needs to see his 6-4, 220-pound center take charge on both ends of the ice and dominate a key game.If that doesn't happen, the Sabres' dream season will come to an abrupt end Saturday night before the raucous fans in Montreal.The Buffalo Sabres had the Montreal Canadiens on the ropes in the early going of pivotal Game 5 of their second round Stanley Cup playoff series. Jason Zucker had scored on a double-deflection two minutes into the first speriod and they also put two other goals on the board by the midway point of the first period thanks to Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius.