Canadiens @ Sabres Top Six Minutes: Habs can’t recover from unlucky start in Game 1

First period

• Lane Hutson tries to play a puck that Zach Benson left behind on his way to the net, but the defenceman gets his stick into the feet of the Sabres forward, and Buffalo gets an immediate power play to begin.
• A strong kill by Montreal has settled them into this game.
• Hutson gets the entire left side of the offensive zone to himself, goes in, and fires a shot off Alex Lyon’s pad and up off the crossbar.
• Now Hutson stumbles along the wall and the puck goes to Benson. He goes in a three-on-one, passes it to Josh Doan, and Doan puts it in the net for a 1-0 Sabres lead. Hutson isn’t having any luck to begin this game.
• This isn’t the tight-checking brand of hockey we saw versus Tampa Bay. Montreal has lanes to work the puck through.
• Josh Anderson sends the puck right across the top of the crease to Phillip Danault, and Lyon has to make a big save.
• Lyon makes another point-blank save, this time on Alex Newhook.
• Fair to say this hockey is much more fun than in the series with Tampa Bay. Montreal is trailing, but it’s hard to see that lasting with the chances being created.
• Buffalo is getting another power play as Nick Suzuki gets caught on the wrong side of his man near the net and had to trip him.
• Rasmus Dahlin flops twice trying to make it a five-on-three for the Sabres. It’s time to start cracking down on that. It’s getting embarrassing for the NHL.
• The Sabres whack at the puck in traffic in front of Dobeš, and it goes perfectly to the tape of Benson, who sets up Ryan McLeod at the side of the net to send the puck into an open net. Luck is entirely with the home side in this opening period.
• There’s a chance for the refs to start evening up the calls with a clear trip in the neutral zone, but the arms stay down. So not just the luck on Buffalo’s side.
• Caufield carries the puck around the offensive zone, and one of the Sabres players fires a loose shot-block guard at him. You can’t get any clearer a penalty to call, but again the referees decide not to notice.
• Jake Evans get a shot on a two-on-one and it goes .. of the post. Just some unbelievably bad luck in this opening 20 minutes. Get it all out of the system I guess.
• At least Montreal gets a power play as Dahlin goes after Evans following the chance.
• The crowd gets loud after Cole Caufield gets crunched along the glass, but Caufield ends up with the secondary assist as Juraj Slafkovský sends another pass right across the front of Lyon to Suzuki, who forces the puck between Lyon’s foot and the post.

Juraj Slafkovsky puts it on Nick Suzuki's stick and the Habs are on the board!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 8:47 PM

• The score is 2-1 Buffalo, but could easily be 3-0 or 4-0 for Montreal. With how one-sided the bounces were in that period, a one-goal deficit is actually a good thing.

Second period

• The linesman tells Jake Evans to get his feet behind the lines for the faceoff. Evans points out that the Sabres centre isn’t following those same rules. Evans gets yelled at.
• Jordan Greenway gets the puck in the offensive zone, sees a screen of Mike Matheson and Tyson Kozak in front of Dobeš, and sends it in for a 3-1 Buffalo lead.
• Jack Quinn gets a shot on a two-on-one, but the puck goes off Dobeš’s crossbar.
• Kaiden Guhle is the latest Canadiens player in the box as the Habs had issues with the Sabres’ cycle, getting caught flatfooted on some quick passes.
• Somehow Dahlin gets a breakaway in behind Matheson, and once again the shot hits iron as the post have now been evened up.
• The Sabres now have more power-play goals in this game than they has all series versus the Boston Bruins. Matheson’s clearing attempt was knocked down in the middle of the ice, then he set up another perfect screen on Dobeš to allow Bowen Byram to score.
• Montreal goes to the power play, and needs to convert if they have any hope of coming back in this game.
• The lanes are open for passes, and the Canadiens gets several good looks, but Lyon stopped a point-blank tip and a hard shot from the slot that just glanced off his glove and over the net.
• Everything is a little panicked in Montreal’s zone as the players are trying to make constant adjustments every time the puck changes hands.
• The Sabres turn the puck over to Zachary Bolduc in the neutral zone, and that leads to a quick counter from Kirby Dach. He shows patience to drag the puck around a sliding defenceman, has the original shot stopped, but pulls the rebound in with with his backhand while falling to make it a 4-2 game.

Holy smokes what an effort and goal by Kirby Dach

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 9:42 PM

• Montreal gets some momentum after the goal, but there isn’t enough time left in the period to turn it into another goal.
• The first period was bad luck. The second period was mostly just bad, with no one knowing how to deal with the Sabres’ offensive-zone play. But now that Sabres are going to try to lock down this win, there could be more offensive chances in the final period.

Third period

• Caufield gets a one-time chance nine seconds into the third period.
• The Canadiens are spending the majority of each shift in Buffalo’s zone, looking for a third goal.
• Lots of chances in the opening five minutes.
• The Sabres are doing a lot of stick defending in their zone right now. Anderson was unable that one of checks was in his hands as he went to shoot.
• Montreal can’t get the puck to the net through the Sabres’ defence right now, despite the zone time.
• The Canadiens ramp up the effort as the final minutes approach. The best shot is one that Lyon had to lunge across his crease to get to, getting the puck wedged between his skate and his pad to stop the play.
• Suzuki hits Demidov with a cross-crease pass, but Demidov just can’t get the angle right to put it in the net.
• No goal despite the puck being in Buffalo’s zone for about 90% of the third period. They had their looks, and ended up with 28 shots on goal.
• The two things Montreal needs to change for Game 2: 1) have better luck and 2) avoid screening Dobeš. It wasn’t as bad as a 4-2 score looks, and the game on Friday should look different. The goal was one win on the road, and they still have the chance to make that happen.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) It’s time for the league to put in the work to eliminate this

2) They still had their chance to win despite the two-goal deficit in the third

1) They’re good, but a lot of things fell their way tonight