Why the Sabres and Canadiens — NHL playoff road warriors — thrive away from home

MONTREAL — Lindy Ruff has made a request to the NHL head office. “Well, we’re in the process of seeing if we can play here on Monday,” the Buffalo Sabres coach said Saturday night at the Bell Centre after his team forced a Game 7. He was kidding, though he somehow needs to find the road magic that materialized again here in Game 6 with an 8-3 pounding of the Montreal Canadiens and bottle it up for Monday night at KeyBank Center. The Sabres are now 5-1 on the road this postseason. The road team is now 4-2 in this series. The Sabres and Canadiens are a combined 10-3 in the postseason away from home, with Montreal going 3-1 in Tampa in the opening round, and the Sabres going 3-0 in Boston. “We play more aggressive. … I like our road game, we’re just letting it loose out there,” said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, who had a five-point night (one goal, four assists) Saturday. Conversely, Montreal and Buffalo are a combined 4-8 at home in these playoffs, with matching 2-4 records. At two of the NHL’s most electric arenas, the home team has struggled. “Probably both teams want the result badly for the fanbase when you’re at home,” Habs head coach Martin St. Louis said. “… We wanted this for our fans, for ourselves; we just didn’t play well. So, we’re going to reset, go on the road and put our best foot forward.” They did it two weeks ago, going into Tampa and stealing Game 7. They’re comfortable on the road. Ruff acknowledged after the game Saturday, this time seriously, that the Sabres would switch up some of the things they do for their home routine. “We’ve got some thought going into that right now,” Ruff said. “We are going to change up what we’ve done at home. I really don’t have the answer. I don’t think anybody has been able to help me with the answer yet. “So, I’m sure they’re (the Canadiens) probably searching for the answer, too, in their building, and Boston was searching for the same answer in their building,” Ruff added. The Florida Panthers tied an NHL record with 10 road wins last season en route to another Stanley Cup championship. Hockey has had more road warriors than other sports. Why exactly? I canvassed several NHL coaches Saturday night for their perspective. “Easier to play on the road in the playoffs,” said Peter DeBoer, second among active NHL coaches with 97 career playoff wins, via text message. “Less pressure. Tend to play a simpler game which is everything in the playoffs. Always said home ice doesn’t matter and isn’t important until Game 7. Then I feel it’s a huge advantage to be at home!” Well, sure, says the man who has the NHL’s all-time best Game 7 coaching record at 9-0. “I think it’s pressure at home and expectations, road team can relax a little more just play,” texted Craig Berube, whose 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues also recorded 10 playoff road wins. “Also the home team in the playoffs, you have people in town, lots of distractions go on,” Berube continued. “The other thing is, the road team for most part plays a simpler game sometimes; the home team tries to do too much.” Barry Trotz’s 2018 Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals share that NHL record with 10 road wins in a postseason. “I believe strongly that you can be more focused (no distractions on the road) and patient in your game,” Trotz said via text. “The home team wants to dominate offensively; crowd energy in the building harder for them emotionally to find that great balance of playing the game presented, therefore force things on the ice (lack patience) and frustrate easier.” Darryl Sutter coached the 2004 Calgary Flames and 2012 Los Angeles Kings to 10 playoff road wins apiece, also sharing that record. “I think ’04 and ’12 teams were big underdogs, pressure was on home teams actually to the point that (people thought) they would win easy; our plan was not to steal one game but go up two games,” Sutter said via text. “The old belief system is a powerful tool. Not sure that applies to this series (Habs-Sabres) because it’s so even. I think probably a penalty, a bad goal, an injury will be difference.” Dean Lombardi, Sutter’s GM on those 2012 and 2014 Cup-winning Kings teams, agreed about the distractions that come with playing at home. “One advantage on the road is players do not have to deal with friends and families for tickets, etc, which can really become a pain in the ass in the playoffs,” Lombardi said via text. “Daryl would even have the players stay in a hotel the day before home games to get them focused.” That’s what Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper decided for his players before Game 7 against Montreal. Lightning players stayed at a local hotel near the rink on the eve of the deciding game instead of their homes. It didn’t work, of course, as they lost to the Canadiens, playing a strong game but getting stymied by Jakub Dobeš. I suspect that Ruff’s comments about switching up the routine for Game 7 mean a stay at a local hotel. “We’re a close group. We love getting on the road together and hanging out. We rally around that a little,” Sabres forward Jack Quinn said after the game Saturday night. “When you’re on the road, you’re in a hotel together, you’re around each other more, and I think you go through adversity and tough times you’ve got to lean on each other, and we’ve done that all year,” echoed Sabres star Tage Thompson. “I think we just embraced that: the challenge, the opportunity, whatever you want to call it. Attacking it, going through it together.” Asked why both his team and the Canadiens are struggling at home before those amazing home crowds, Quinn considered the question for a moment. “Maybe it can be less pressure in a sense on the road?” he said. “You know, you’re in enemy territory and just go play. I really don’t now, it’s funny both teams’ records are like that.” There was nothing funny in the Canadiens dressing room as they pondered another home loss and why exactly it keeps happening. “I think guys maybe want to do too much here to impress the fans and give them back some love,” said Habs captain Nick Suzuki. “But we can’t let that affect us mentally and we’ve got to keep things simple and keep doing what makes us successful regardless of where we’re playing. That’s definitely not on the fans, that’s on us. We’ve got to play better here.” How specifically does it distract a young Habs team? “It gets loud when guys have the puck in certain areas,” Suzuki said. “You’ve got to learn to — guys that haven’t played here a ton — you learn to try to keep that poise and keep the patience rather than just trying to rush things. You get used to it over time, for sure.” The Sabres and Habs are both young teams. That inexperience, as Suzuki said, is probably at play in the home struggles. Those amazing atmospheres in each building can overwhelm the senses and cloud decision-making. Look at the common thread from all those veteran coaches above. Road teams play a more patient, simpler game. Home teams feel the burden of creating offense early instead of letting the game come to them. Both have been apparent in this series. Will Game 7 buck the trend or continue it?