Player Ratings – Sabres smash Montreal Canadiens 5-1 (+)

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme has to go back to the drawing board after his team was crushed by one of the worst teams in the league, the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 Thursday night. In every phase, the Habs were outclassed and did little to support goaltender Samuel Montembeault in his regular-season debut.

On special teams, the Montreal Canadiens have squandered multiple five-on-three opportunities and eight power plays through two games. The team has also allowed four goals shorthanded early this season.

The defensive pairings of Ben Chiarot with David Savard and Alexander Romanov on the left of Chris Wideman have been disasters in their own zone. Offensively, the top line of Nick Suzuki with Cole Caufield and Tyler Toffoli have done next to nothing in the opponent’s zone.

All in all, it’s been a pretty bleak first 120 minutes for the Montreal Canadiens.

“We’ve got to be much, much harder to play against,” an agitated Ducharme told reporters post-game. “If you have a chance to kill a play, if you have a chance to win a puck and you don’t do it, then someone else has to do it. Then, it snowballs. That’s something we take pride in doing, and we didn’t take pride in doing (tonight). That makes a big difference in our game.”

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