The Buffalo Sabres missed out on a golden chance to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. After their dominant win against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, they pushed the series to a Game 7 at the KeyBank Center.

However, the home advantage didn't matter, as they succumbed to an overtime winner and exited the playoffs. Talking to the media after the loss, winger Zach Benson reflected on the game and discussed his team and their performance this season.

"It's been unbelievable, " Benson said, as per The Hockey News. "I love every guy in that room. It's truly a brotherhood. It’s the tightest team I’ve ever been on. It was cool to see the city kind of rally around us. It was super cool, and a season I’ll never forget.”

The Sabres got off to a marvelous start to the conference second round with a 4-2 win in Game 1. But they subsequently lost two back-to-back matchups. They clawed their way back in Game 4 before suffering another defeat.

The back-and-forth continued, as the Sabres finally leveled the series in Game 6 with a thumping 8-3 win at the Bell Center. With all to play for, they ushered the Canadiens to Buffalo but couldn't capitalize on the crowd's energy.

Montreal raced to a 1-0 lead before the Sabres's offensive onslaught eventually stretched the game into overtime. At 11 minutes and 22 seconds, Canadiens center Alex Newhook burst past a few Buffalo players and slotted it past the goaltender Alex Lyon.

That was enough, as Montreal walked with a 3-2 win on the night and a 4-3 series victory. The Sabres were within a goal of making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but couldn't get over the line.

Sabres Goalie Alex Lyon Reflects on Loss Against Montreal

It was a disappointing night for the Sabres, which prompted a candid reflection from goalie Alex Lyon on Tuesday.

"We were always talking about how crazy it was that the momentum doesn’t flow from game to game, period to period sometimes,” he said, as per Buffalo Hockey Beat.

The 33-year-old explained how momentum can be rather unpredictable across a season or even a single playoff game.

“And it’s the same principle as a hockey team from season to season," he stated. "Just because things really clicked and worked really well this year, doesn’t mean that it’s automatically going to happen again next year.”

He also talked about the importance of anticipating adversity and moving past it.

“My brain is just trained to think like there’s always adversity on the way, and if you’re prepared for it, it just makes it that much easier to get over and move past."

As for Montreal, they will face the marauding Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. On the other side, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche will clash in the Western Conference Finals.

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Written by

Ankita Yadav

Edited by

Sijo Paul