Fans laud Buffalo Sabres' breakthrough season after Game 7 - ESPN

BUFFALO, N.Y. — «Let's Go Buffalo» chants echoed around the arena following the conclusion of Game 7 as the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens shook hands following their Eastern Conference semifinals series Monday night.

The cheers for the Sabres were not for the reasons fans or the team had hoped, coming at the end of a 3-2 overtime loss.

Instead, they were to acknowledge a historic campaign that saw the end of a 14-season playoff drought and a team that brought excitement and playoff fever back to a hockey-loving city. A Buffalo team that for the first time since 2007 won a playoff series — defeating the Boston Bruins in Round 1 — and pushed the Canadiens to the very brink.

But this Buffalo team wanted more. And the disappointment was overflowing postgame.

«We were feeling good in here [going into overtime]. Tons of confidence in this room,» star forward Tage Thompson said. «I think everyone in here felt like this was going to end different and probably felt like we deserved a little better outcome, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Yeah, we just got to unfortunately take that taste with us into the summer and do something about it.»

Captain Rasmus Dahlin expressed the emotions pretty simply, saying, «I don't know. F---ing sucks.» He later added, «Yeah, it's one shot that decides the whole season. It sucks.»

The loss came despite the Sabres climbing back from a multigoal deficit for a second straight game with goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen saving 22 of 25 shots. Buffalo also outshot Montreal 39-25 despite falling behind 2-0.

The Sabres had a number of goal-scoring opportunities in the second and third periods. Just more than halfway through the third period, an apparent goal by Beck Malenstyn was waved off