If you tuned in to TSN’s Montreal/Buffalo broadcast last night, you were in for a treat.  (Although if you were a Sabres fan, you might have disagreed for the first 57 minutes of play.)  I don’t know if it was TSN’s sound guys, or just the way the mics are set up in the HSBC Arena, but you could clearly hear the players and refs calling each other, whether it was a defenceman telling his goalie to leave the puck instead of playing it, or one call that may have turned the game at the end: in the final minute, Buffalo’s Steve Montador was knocked to the ice in front of Carey Price’s crease, and lingered there for a few seconds, hoping to draw a penalty.  Thanks to the great sound setup, you could clearly hear the referee behind the net yell at him, “No way!  Get up!”  Montador complied, and it was a good thing that he did: as soon as he regained his feet, the puck bounced right to him and he was able to swat it by Price for the tying goal.

Concerning the game itself, although Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire stated several times that Buffalo probably didn’t deserve to have tied it up (given their lack of effort earlier on), Ryan Miller certainly deserved the win, and maybe a couple of free dinners courtesy of his team.  He was the only reason the Sabres were still in it, and continues to demonstrate why he’s one of the league’s best goalies. 

While Buffalo’s poor play through the first 95% of the game might have had their brass (not to mention the fans) on edge with the playoffs looming, those frantic few minutes at regulation’s end showed that whoever draws them in the playoffs - Montreal, if the postseason started today - had better be ready to cling to their leads, because their hands will be full.