BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are always two sides to every story when evaluating a top player’s performance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.For the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, a narrative throughout the series was the production of their top line against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And while captain Nick Suzuki took that lack of production to heart and owned it, the reality is there was an opponent on the other side factoring into that performance.And so, you can choose to criticize Suzuki for it, or you can choose to praise Lightning shutdown centre Anthony Cirelli for how well he blanketed the Canadiens’ top offensive threat in the series.In the second round, it is Buffalo Sabres stars Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch feeling the heat heading into Game 6 of the series Saturday in Montreal, with the Canadiens having an opportunity to advance to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final with a win.“It’s an experience that he hasn’t really gone through,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Thompson on Friday. “I think there are momentum swings in your top players. I mean, we just mentioned Montreal’s top players, and a long stretch of not scoring even strength. Then, you’ll get that opportunity to make a difference. You’ve got to be able to make a difference. We know this time of year, there’s a heightened awareness on all your top players. Every opportunity, every mistake is being critiqued.”But again, there is someone on the other side of the ice here, and more often than not, that someone has been Canadiens centre Phillip Danault.This is what Danault was meant to do when the Canadiens traded a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings just before Christmas to repatriate him from California. He was brought back to win draws and play difficult matchups, and there is arguably no one left in the playoffs doing that as well as Danault is doing it for the Canadiens right now.