MONTREAL — Alex Tuch stood inside a conference room at the Four Seasons in Montreal with a throng of reporters around him and pointed the finger directly at himself. The Buffalo Sabres forward was minus-2 in the Sabres’ Game 3 loss to the Canadiens and thinks he played the worst defensive game of his entire postseason. The feeling from the 6-2 loss isn’t one that he wants to forget just yet.

One play in particular was sticking with him. On the Canadiens’ goal that put them up 3-1, Logan Stanley had a turnover in the neutral zone. That sent the Canadiens on a rush the other way. Zachary Bolduc was the trailing forward. He skated right by Tage Thompson and Tuch to receive a pass in the slot untouched and then finished the play with a goal.

“That’s unacceptable,” Tuch said. “That was just a missed backcheck on my part. That’s on me. I can’t leave (goalie Alex Lyon) out to dry like that. That’s not good.”

After the game, Thompson said he thought the Sabres let their emotions get the best of them and were distracted by things outside of their control. A day after the game, fresh off a morning video meeting, Tuch pointed to Buffalo’s compete level.

“Very much self-inflicted,” Tuch said of their issues. “It’s all on our decisions and our will and our compete. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and get back to the game we know we can play and the game that’s been successful for us.”

Coming into this series, the Canadiens were one of the best teams in the playoffs in puck battles, according to SportLogiq. That is showing up in a big way. The Canadiens are winning races to loose pucks, beating Sabres defenders to the front of the net and coming away with the puck in board battles.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff elected to have the Sabres not practice on Monday in favor of video and off-ice work. He described those meetings as “honest.” By staying off the ice, Ruff is getting the team back in the routine it had during the Boston series. The difference with this series is that games are every other day, so the rest is even more important. The compete issue Tuch referenced is likely more a case of the team’s energy levels not being where they need to be than it is about desire.

“When I look at every 50-50 compete, there’s one guy battling another guy,” Ruff said. “They want it just as bad as us. At the end, I thought they had the edge, whether that was 60-40 or 55-45, whatever it was, I thought if we’re going to be successful, we got to tilt that table to 60-40 in our favor, or whatever that exact number is. That’s on puck battles, that’s on wall battles, that’s on you look at net-front battles. So, yeah, everybody can be better on the compete, for sure. Alex can be better on the compete. He knows that.”

Here are some other notes as Buffalo prepares for Game 4.

1. A small group of players skated at the Bell Centre. Defensemen Luke Schenn and Zach Metsa, forwards Josh Dunne, Tyson Kozak and Konsta Helenius and goalies Colten Ellis and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Among the Sabres’ scratches in this series, Michael Kesselring and Tanner Pearson were notably absent from the group that skated on Monday.

That doesn’t mean that either player will go into the lineup on Tuesday night, but it seems to indicate the coaching staff is considering them. It’s worth noting that Pearson took warmups ahead of Game 1 but was not in the lineup. That suggests he’s the next forward up. Pearson has plenty of playoff experience and is a reliable defensive forward. Given Buffalo’s struggles in its own end, Pearson would make sense as a replacement up front. The question is who Ruff would remove from the lineup. Jason Zucker’s ice time was limited, and he was injured in Round 1, so that’s one candidate. Ruff insists he’s fine physically, but his playing time tells a different story in the last few games. Stylistically, Pearson could fill Zucker’s role playing with Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn.

“We’re going to dress a lineup that we think is going to be the best possible chance to win,” Ruff said when asked about the possibility of making lineup changes.

Rookie forward Konsta Helenius played nine regular-season games for the Sabres in 2025-26. (James Guillory / Imagn Images)

2. The fan base is eager to see Helenius get into a game. Given that he was skating with the extras on Monday, that doesn’t seem imminent. Helenius, who turned 20 on Monday, was a point-per-game player in the AHL this season and has produced in the playoffs in both the AHL and in Finland’s top pro league.

Before the team left for Montreal, Helenius was grinning from ear to ear talking about the experience of practicing with the Sabres at this time of year. He had a whirlwind end to his AHL season with the Amerks pushing for a playoff spot on the final day of the season. Now he’s ready if the Sabres call on him, and thinks his game is a nice match for playoff hockey.

“I play a physical game,” Helenius said with a smile. “I’m not the biggest guy, but I like to play hard and get the emotion of the game, and then it’s much easier to play. These are big games. It’s best of seven, every play matters. You know what? Everyone is watching you. You want to show everyone you can play and stuff like that.”

It doesn’t look like Helenius is going to get that chance yet, based on his participation in the skate on Monday. He played nine games in the regular season and had four points. If Helenius plays one more game, the Sabres will burn a year of his entry-level contract. But that shouldn’t be a major concern if the Sabres believe he can help them at some point in this series. After playing eight games in the NHL this season, Helenius loved the speed of the game and that it required him to use his brain, something he considers a strength.

“Some guys say it’s easier to play in the NHL if you’re a smart player, and I felt like that because I know I can trust the guys,” Helenius said. “These are the best guys playing in the NHL. Everybody is smart. It’s easy to come here and play to your strengths and just trust everyone on the ice.”

In this series in particular, Helenius wouldn’t be out of place. Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov and Sabres forward Zach Benson are both 20 and making an impact in this series.

“It’s nice to see that it’s not too far for me,” Helenius said. “I can do the same if I get the opportunity.”

3. The NHL handed out a couple of fines after Game 3. Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn was fined $3,515.63, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for his goalie interference penalty on Jakub Dobeš. Malenstyn’s play was reckless, and the Canadiens took issue with it. There could be some carryover from that in Game 4.

Meanwhile, Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj was fined $3,385.42, also the maximum allowable under the CBA, for roughing Sam Carrick at the end of the game. Xhekaj punched Carrick in the face with a gloved hand while Carrick had two hands on his stick. We’ll see whether the intensity of this series ramps up after a few heated moments during games two and three. The Sabres can’t afford to get out-skated by the Canadiens and let them initiate the physicality in the series, too. But Ruff has also stressed discipline, as the Sabres gave the Canadiens too many power plays in Game 3. The Sabres need to find a way to strike that balance, because they clearly need more intensity in Game 4.