MONTREAL — The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Tuesday night in Game 4, erasing a 2-1 series deficit and sending the best-of-seven matchup back to Buffalo tied 2-2. Zach Benson scored the winner in the third period, and Lindy Ruff said he “totally disagree[d]” with the goaltender-interference ruling that took a Buffalo goal off the board earlier in the night.
Mattias Samuelsson opened the scoring at 6:32 of the first period, but Buffalo’s brief 2-0 lead vanished when Jack Quinn’s apparent goal at 8:02 was disallowed after Montreal challenged for goaltender interference. Video review ruled that Buffalo’s Konsta Helenius interfered with Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes and impaired his ability to play his position. Montreal seized the momentum from there, with Alex Newhook scoring at 10:08 and Cole Caufield adding a power-play goal with 13 seconds left in the period to put the Canadiens ahead 2-1.
The goal Buffalo got back in the second period came off the kind of break playoff games often hinge on. Tage Thompson tied it 2-2 on the power play when the puck deflected off the boards, struck Dobes’ right pad and went in. Thompson said he “obviously saw it hit the glass,” then said he was “kind of just scanning around, looking for a few guys to put their hands up [in celebration]. It’s a nice feeling when you see that.”
Buffalo finished the job in the third period. Thompson drew two defenders before slipping the puck to Josh Doan, who found Benson alone in front of Dobes for the game-winning goal. Benson said, “You need those bounces, come playoff time. And it was a big goal for us.”
The ruling on Quinn’s disallowed goal loomed over the night. Ruff said he thought Dobes initiated the contact with Helenius and argued that Helenius tried to avoid the goaltender. “I totally disagree with it,” Ruff said. “Just for the fact that Dobes always is swinging the stick. He initiated the contact with Helenius, with the stick coming across the crease. I thought Helenius did a great job of trying to avoid the goaltender. Their guy ends up hitting the goaltender. So I really thought that that was going our way.”
Montreal coach Martin St. Louis did not dwell on the call, but he pointed to how narrow the margins had become. “The difference... it’s a fine line, right?” he said. “They get a goal off the door there. The stanchion. Whatever. Is that the difference? I don’t know.” The Bell Centre crowd, already loud, turned louder after the disallowed Buffalo goal and the Canadiens’ surge to a 2-1 lead, but Buffalo steadied enough to leave Montreal with the series even.
The Sabres had also scored the opening goal at Bell Centre in Game 3, and they had said afterward that they managed their emotions poorly once Montreal took the lead. This time, they absorbed the setback, answered the pressure and left with the result they needed most. Game 5 shifts back to Buffalo with the series no longer tilted toward either side.
