Who would you rather face in round 2?

[SabreFinn]

To beat two original six teams would be pretty nice. And then get either Canes in a conference final and deal with the past, or take a dance with the Broad Street bullies led by Risto. It can't get any better than that.

[DarthEbriate]

Reasons for MTL:

1) Higher entertainment by a potentially open-ice game against Montreal and their speed.

2) Don't want Tampa to make it out of the first round... again. Let it show it as a true changing of the guard.

3) While MTL has some guys who will cause some issues (Gallagher, Anderson), they don't seemingly have the NHL's blessing to do whatever they want (Perry, Hagel, Kucherov). When the Sabres win the series, I don't want to have it come with cheapshot injuries. The attrition should be wild grind of 4 series of intense and escalating hockey, not Hagel jumping your guys from behind or sticking out a leg going after a knee.

[Taro T]

Detroit.

[Mr. MVP]

I’m not familiar with Montreal.  But I always worry about being goalied.  Vasilevskiy scares me in that regard.  

[SwampD]

I think we can beat either team. Montreal/Buffalo sure would be a good looking series, though.

[PonyBoy2]

Tampa, recent juggernaut & because MTL hasn't won a cup in 30+ years & I hate Canadian teams. 

Carolina next, because they've won a cup & got to final most likely because 4-5 D men for Buffalo going down back in early 2000's. 

The cup? 

Colorado, best team this year, have won SC before. 

Or Vegas, cup winner & because ....you know who. 

Bring on the best, no injuries, previous champs since 2000,  no asteriks for the Sabre's. 

Do it!! IMO

[Punch]

 

[French Collection]

Montreal.

Old rivalry gets revived and could become an annual thing.

I prefer a track meet where the Sabres scoring spread between lines and D corps can hang with anybody.

I fear a bunch of injuries from playing those dirty TBL guys. I would love to see them on the losing side of a handshake line but many of our guys would be damaged.

[zow2]

Feel like Montreals youth and speed match up well against Buffalo. They have a solid goalie in Dobes but he’s not proven over the long haul of playoffs.

Tampa has Vasileivsky who is proven to steal games and win Cups.  And they have very talented forwards and experience. 

I’m fairly sure both clubs have a better power play than Boston.

I’d lean slightly to rather play Montreal.  They don’t feel better than us.  Tampa has that playoff pedigree and lockdown goalie that could be a factor.

[repster]

Sabres had an edge on the Habs two games to one, most recently, entirely in January, but the Habs won the last one which was in Buffalo.

Sabres swept the Bolts in March/April three games to zip.

i think the Sabres confidence would be slightly higher against Tampa due to this recency.

The Bell Centre can be an absolutely crazy loud place and I believe the Habs have been in better form down the stretch compared to the Bolts.

One thing that gives me pause in saying I want the Lightning is from NHL.com on Tuesday:

“The upbeat vibe surrounding the Lightning captain and his team had to do with the fact the defenseman was able to participate in a full practice, including the majority of drills at top speed. It was the most on-ice activity Hedman has had since leaving for personal reasons on March 25.”

If they go through, he will be playing against the Sabres.  That having been said, he was in the lineup in the two March games the Sabres won, so… and Dobson will be returning for the Habs as well.

The winner will be playing on short rest, but may also have that adrenaline flowing.

Glad I don’t have to choose, but I think either poses equally difficult but different challenges.

Here’s what Gemini says just out of curiosity, in contrast to where I’m lightly leaning: (I wonder what other AI’s would predict)

Matchup Breakdown

Montreal Canadiens (Preferred Matchup):

Tactical Advantage: Buffalo’s primary strength is team speed and elite skating. Analysts suggest that while Montreal also plays a fast game, Buffalo's depth on the blue line and forward corps gives them an edge in a high-pace series.

Playoff Inexperience: Montreal’s young stars, including rookie sensation Ivan Demidov and 51-goal scorer Cole Caufield, have seen their scoring average drop significantly in the first round (team from 3.40 to 2.33 goals per game).

Season Series: The regular season series was split 2-2 with an even goal differential (13-13), suggesting a tightly contested but winnable series.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Difficult Matchup):

Experience Gap: The Lightning are making their ninth-consecutive postseason appearance. Unlike Montreal, they possess significant veteran experience in closing out series and managed to push their first round to Game 7 after trailing.

Physicality: Some analysts fear Tampa Bay's veteran structure could better neutralise Buffalo's speed compared to Montreal's run-and-gun style. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Edited May 3 by repster

[K012010]

After watching Vas night last night, I would much rather have Montreal based on that alone, even though Dobes was also amazing.

[Peace Frog]

Neither opponent will be a cakewalk.  Let's just hope they lambaste each other in a game 7 quadruple OT thriller and limp into round 2.  For the record, I think we stand a slightly better chance against Le Habitants.

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

We'll beat either one.

[JohnnyK]

The team that loses tonight!!!!, but won't happen!

🙂

[transient]

18 hours ago, quill said:

It's hard to say, and I don't really care which one it is but if I had to pick, it would be Tampa because we know how to beat them more than we know how to beat Montreal. To me the Habs are very much like the Sabres, so it can't be easy trying to figure out how to beat a team that's just like us, can it? 

The opposite side of that coin is Tampa would have just played a team just like the Sabres, so they may be more prepared to face us…

[Night Train]

Sabres shouldn't be afraid of either.  They've both had a tough 7 game series with less rest. 

Meanwhile, some fans play out fear narratives in their melon. 

Enjoy the ride. Don't be afraid to believe the Sabres are actually good. 

[Jorcus]

Both teams are highly dependent on top line scoring and can out match our top line most nights in production. Tampa's second line is much stronger with Guentzel-Point-Perry  vs the Habs Demidove-Newhook-Gallagher. The third line drop off for both teams is pretty large. Benson-Norris-Doan is way better than Girgensons-Gourde- Paul  or  Texier-Dach-Bolduc. On paper I think we match up better with Montreal but the top end talent is so scary on that team there is more of a chance that they pick us apart. Tampa is what you see is what you get. They have experience and a better second line but like last year the depth hurts them. We should be able to win either series. I lean towards playing Tampa because of the speed advantage. 

[TageMVP]

2 hours ago, transient said:

The opposite side of that coin is Tampa would have just played a team just like the Sabres, so they may be more prepared to face us…

Fair point but I feel like you can gameplan for Tampa Bay the same way you gameplanned for Boston. The Sabres id say are faster than Tampa and can goad their caveman identity into taking penalties, just like Boston. Annoy the goalie, like they did with Boston

Cernaks an idiot. They have some idiots. They will take dumb penalties without the Sabres doing much to provoke them. 8-7 game comes to mind 

Montreal is a different story. They seem to have less idiots. They play like the Sabres do. They are going to try to win more than get even, like a Tampa or Boston would. Montreal is the tougher opponent. 

Gotta study both teams obviously and watch the tape, but if its Montreal, I hope Ruff has some strategies he's been holding onto but not used yet 

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, Jorcus said:

Montreal but the top end talent is so scary on that team there is more of a chance that they pick us apart.

I find Caufield is playing scared at 5v5, he is puny and avoids contact. He is way less effective than the regular season.

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 hours ago, repster said:

Physicality: Some analysts fear Tampa Bay's veteran structure could better neutralise Buffalo's speed compared to Montreal's run-and-gun style. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Sabres handled the TB “physicality” just fine in the regular season (3–0-1).  Boston used the same tactics and it didn’t work, and frankly, TB is just a slightly better version of Boston.  Swayman, McAvoy, Pasta, Geekie, Lindholm, & Ardvisson vs Vasilevsky, Raddysh, Kucherov, Hagel, Point & Cirelli. 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, transient said:

The opposite side of that coin is Tampa would have just played a team just like the Sabres, so they may be more prepared to face us…

Not "just like the Sabres."  They have a much better PP than the Sabres, though the Sabres did bring the PP in the 8-7 game, so maybe vs TB the Habs PP isn't all that much better than Buffalo's..  They also aren't nearly as deep on the backend as the Sabres are and though they're as fast or maybe even a smidge faster than the Sabres they are also in general smaller than the Sabres.

Should they get past the Habs, they will have to play a different game vs the Sabres than they were able to play vs the Habs.

[K-9]

Regardless of who we end up playing, I want the Sabres to sequester the team in a hotel the night before all home games. After morning practice they get their treatments, go meetings, review videos, etc. and just spend some time together, and get to the hotel. Treat it like an away game. Bills always used to do this as well. 

[Nacho Libre]

 

[stinky finger]

7 hours ago, Night Train said:

Sabres shouldn't be afraid of either.  They've both had a tough 7 game series with less rest. 

Meanwhile, some fans play out fear narratives in their melon. 

Enjoy the ride. Don't be afraid to believe the Sabres are actually good. 

I go into the next series much more relaxed. Whoever we may play. Beating Boston was something special for me and very intense. I couldn't take losing to them.

I'm confident moving forward and will just enjoy this incredible ride. 

 

[RETURNTOGLORY]

I feel our best chance to advance would be TB. But they are a dirty team and I could see some injuries occur. We had their number this year, and have a playoff series under our belt now, so we've got the jitters behind our young team.