The Buffalo Sabres lost a high-scoring shootout on Monday afternoon at KeyBank Centre, dropping a 7-5 decision to the division-rival Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately for Buffalo, that wasn't their only loss of the day.
Forward Tage Thompson, arguably Buffalo's most important player, left the game with a lower-body injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the afternoon. To make matters worse, the Sabres also lost defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who was similarly ruled out for the rest of the game.
Thompson departed after one shift in the second period, while Samuelsson also departed in the game's middle frame after having earned 12:16 of ice time in his return to the lineup after being scratched the previous three games.
Head coach Lindy Ruff didn't have any immediate updates on the health status of either player in his postgame remarks. Thompson leads the Sabres with 11 goals in 16 games, and is one season removed from a career-high 47 goals and 47 assists in 2022-23.
The Sabres were “humbled” in their loss to the Canadiens
The Sabres entered Monday afternoon's game having won three straight, but as captain Rasmus Dahlin would admit afterwards, they may have been thinking too much about their previous victories rather than the task at hand vs. Montreal, via Buffalo Hockey Beat.
“We got humbled today,” the frustrated Dahlin said. “I think we were very excited about our previous games.”
Meanwhile, alternate captain Alex Tuch was brutally honest about his team's lack of execution.
“We didn’t play like we can,” Tuch said. “It goes back to details. I don’t know what the cause of it was, but especially when we got injuries and stuff, we just got to keep it simple and make it hard for the opponent. But that’s not what we did today.”
The Sabres are next in action on Thursday evening when they host the St. Louis Blues. Whether Thompson and Samuelsson will be able to play remains to be seen.
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