2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference SFs
Game 2: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Buffalo Sabres (A1)
BUF leads 1-0
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: TNT, truTV
Streaming: Sportsnet+
The Montreal Canadiens may not have been happy with the final score, and Lane Hutson wasn’t happy with his play, but Martin St-Louis seems to have liked what he saw from his team in Game 1, opting to make no changes after the loss.
It wasn’t a bad game for Montreal considering they had 20 scoring chances at five-on-five, but they also gave up that many to Buffalo and allowed the Sabres to get to the crease for chances too often, something they did well to limit especially early in the series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Habs should be able to score three goals with a similar effort to what they had in Game 1, but they need to be stronger defensively if that total is going to be enough to claim the win.
Look to Alex Newhook to be a factor in the game tonight. After a very quiet start versus the Lightning, he ended up with the series-clinching goal, and that inspired a four-shot performance in Wednesday’s game. He was a productive player for the Canadiens this season, nearly matching last year’s point total despite only playing half the schedule, and with this renewed confidence could become a regular contributor once again.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #15 Alex Newhook | #71 Jake Evans | #93 Ivan Demidov |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc | #90 Joe Veleno | #77 Kirby Dach |
| #85 Alexandre Texier | #24 Phillip Danault | #17 Josh Anderson |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #21 Kaiden Guhle | #48 Lane Hutson |
| #8 Mike Matheson | #45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj | #53 Noah Dobson |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #75 Jakub Dobeš | #32 Jacob Fowler |
Scratched: Brendan Gallagher, Oliver Kapanen, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, Jayden Struble
Buffalo Sabres projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #19 Peyton Krebs | #72 Tage Thompson | #89 Alex Tuch |
| #6 Zach Benson | #9 Josh Norris | #91 Josh Doan |
| #17 Jason Zucker | #71 Ryan McLeod | #22 Jack Quinn |
| #12 Jordan Greenway | #48 Tyson Kozak | #29 Beck Malenstyn |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #26 Rasmus Dahlin | #23 Mattias Samuelsson |
| #4 Bowen Byram | #25 Owen Power |
| #64 Logan Stanley | #21 Conor Timmins |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #34 Alex Lyon | #1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
Injured: Sam Carrick, Justin Danforth, Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund
Scratched: Josh Dunne, Colten Ellis, Michael Kesselring, Zach Metsa, Tanner Pearson, Luke Schenn
