Barnaby Puts Sabres in the Driver’s Seat

Matthew Barnaby walked into a postgame news conference wearing a giant smile and a Buffalo Sabres’ baseball cap thrown by a fan. On Sunday, he earned both.

Barnaby had his first career hat trick to lead the Sabres to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, giving Buffalo a 2-0 series lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“It’s not even a dream,” said Barnaby, who also added an assist. “I never even thought of [a hat trick]. Growing up, I would have been happy to just get one shift in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”

The Sabres have not had a 2-0 series lead in the second round of the playoffs since 1980, which also was the last time they reached the conference finals. Game 3 will be played Tuesday night in Montreal.

Buffalo, which won its fifth playoff game in a row dating to Game 3 against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, can thank Barnaby for its current position.

The guy who has been called a pest by his teammates and a problem by his coach, the guy who threatened the well-being of star goaltender Dominik Hasek and asked to be traded just before the deadline, was easily the best player on the ice against the Canadiens.

“Once [the trade] didn’t come through, it was time to get back to work,” Barnaby said. “There was enough sulking going on. It was time to help these guys do something special.”

Barnaby scored the game’s last three goals. His first gave the Sabres a 4-3 lead with 1:33 left in the second period, when he came from behind the net to backhand a shot between Andy Moog’s legs. His second came 13 seconds into the third period, and his third was an empty-net goal with 49 seconds left.

Montreal, which strongly outplayed Buffalo in Game 1 only to lose in overtime, finds itself in a very difficult position as the series switches to the Molson Centre. The Canadiens had a 15-17-9 home record during the regular season.