First period
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is in net, as the Buffalo Sabres desperately look for someone to slow down Montreal’s offence.
- Luukkonen stops the first shot of the game, from Cole Caufield on a two-on-one with Juraj Slafkovský.
- It’s not as energetic a start as the Sabres had in Game 3.
- Alex Tuch gets a lane to the net and sends a short-side shot off the post.
- Now the Sabres are beginning to make things happen. Dobeš had to shoot out his glove to deny the latest shot.
- The Canadiens get aggressive looking for a goal, with Noah Dobson getting in to Buffalo’s goal line. He’s caught on the counter-attack, and Mattias Samuelsson scores off the rush.
- Six consecutive shots for the Sabres, who just had another attempt go wide of the net.
- The officials use the first TV timeout to see if one of Jakub Dobeš’s saves was made inside the net, and the replays show it is in the net in the webbing of his glove. It will be a second Buffalo goal.
- Martin St-Louis has challenged the play for goaltender interference. It is a successful one, and just a one-goal deficit the Habs face.
- Not only does the goal come off the board, but the game has been stopped for about 15 minutes to scrub off any momentum the Sabres would have carried.
- Now the Habs need to get more involved in the game. Shots are 8-1 eight minutes in.
- Mike Matheson gets a shot from the top of the circle through traffic, but it goes off the crossbar. Each team has chipped off some red paint now.
- Each team now has a goal. Jake Evans was denied point-blank, after a pass from Ivan Demidov, but Alex Newhook wasn’t on the follow-up shot assisted by Evans. It’s Newhook’s sixth goal in five games.
ALEX NEWHOOK IS ON A HEATER
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) May 12, 2026 at 8:42 PM
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- Buffalo will get the first chance on the power play tonight as Alexandre Carrier got his stick into Jason Zucker’s feet in the corner. Will these two minutes look as dangerous at the ones early in the third period last game?
- No it wont. Rasmus Dahlin runs a pick on Kaiden Guhle, and that’s illegal in this series. To four-on-four we go.
- Dobeš spills a puck he thinks he has frozen, but Guhle blocks a pass out toward the front of the net and allows his goalie to cover it for good. A good sequence from #21.
- Zucker knocks down Veleno as he chips the puck in, then runs his head into the wall. The second action will give the Canadiens a chance at a full two-minute power play that begins in the offensive zone.
- Demidov blasts a one-timer that pinballs off about six things and heads for the goal line, but Luukkonen makes a last-second intervention to keep it out.
- Newhook gets one last shot just as the penalty expires, but that’s a less adventurous stop for the goaltender.
- Poor Zachary Bolduc just got another penalty for getting punched in a scrum. It probably should have been Dobson called for one of the coincidentals on the play, but four-on-four is probably the right call after a scrum in front of the net.
- The puck slides out the neutral zone, and Hutson is the first one to see it. He can’t skate quite fast enough to turn it into a breakaway.
- Caufield just stole the puck twice on the same shift to set up a couple of looks for himself.
- Tage Thompson takes a senseless tripping penalty on a play that had already been called icing by taking Guhle.
- Caufield scores with a few dekes to open up Luukkonen’s five-hole as the goaltender was trying to seal the post to prevent the famous Caufield goal past his ear. Montreal makes Buffalo pay for a selfish penalty.
- Ruff is yelling at the refs, but he’s probably saving something even more fiery for Thompson in the intermission.
- Montreal was the second-best team in that period, but comes out of it with a one-goal lead. They should consider that a gift without playing their best game, something they need to find in the final 40 minutes.
Second period
- Two minutes into the period Bowen Byram swings his stick at Josh Anderson’s face for some reason well away from the play and will get two minutes for high-sticking. Thompson’s penalty was bad, that one was just bewildering.
- Two excellent chances from Caufield, the second one requiring a lunging splits save from Luukkonen.
- Dobeš again believes he has the puck and doesn’t, but this time it’s Jake Evans to thwarts the chance with him down and out. It’s goaltending by committee in this game.
- Alexandre Carrier pinches up and has Rasmus Dahlin get past him, and whips his stick at him trying to slow him down. It wasn’t necessary with two teammates already back to defend, and made worse by the fact that it rode up into Dahlin’s face to warrant a four-minute high-sticking penalty.
- The Sabres’ luck hasn’t run out yet. Thompson is forced to dump the puck off the glass as the blue line is blocked, and it bounces off the glass, straight across off Dobeš’s leg, and into the net.
- A very strange four-minute power play on which the Sabres generated nothing, but had a goal to even up the score.
- Caufield gets taken down hard into the post by Dahlin away from the puck. A dangerous play, but Caufield is alright, and feeling even better with a power play for his troubles.
- A handful of dangerous looks from both power-play units had the crowd oohing an ahhing, but not celebrating as Luukkonen stops all the ones that came his way.
- Zach Benson tries to find a passing and has to readjust to take a shot. The problem is the puck was no longer on his stick, and the Canadiens easily take it out of the zone.
- Evans takes a high stick off a faceoff that draws blood. None of the four officials saw the play, and no penalty is being called.
- The best shift of the game from Montreal follows as they come very close to adding a third goal without a power play.
- That shift scared the Sabres. and now they’re in a shell around their net.
- Bowen Byram swings his stick at another forward’s face, this time Alexandre Texier’s, and the officials did see that one, a four-minute penalty.
- They don’t score at the end of the period, but will have about 2:30 to work with the begin the third period.
Third period
- The puck squeaks though the legs of Luukkonen on an early shot, but gets poked away by Byram before Caufield notices.
- Suzuki gets set up for a one-timer but sends his shot off the outside of the post.
- Montreal is just one-for-seven on the power play now, getting chances, but unable to convert them into a lead.
- Now the Sabres head to the power as Evans grabs the arm of Peyton Krebs, again with plenty of support behind him, just like Carrier’s high stick earlier in the game.
- The Canadiens try to clog the lanes, but Matheson had to leave Benson in front to try to block a lane, and it’s Benson who scores from the top of the crease.
- Dobeš stretches across on a hard one-time pass and makes a game-saving pad stop on Konsta Helenius.
- The Canadiens have taken over the possession as the Sabres try to defend the lead. Shots are getting through to Luukkonen, but the Habs haven’t been able to get the tip or a rebound to make one count.
- Caufield takes a cross-check in the throat on an offensive-zone faceoff and has to go to the bench.
- The pressure is constant, though there are few shots coming from close range.
- Slafkovský takes the butt-end of Luukkonen’s stick in the face and goes down on the ice, bringing a stoppage in the action.
- Helenius goes in another two-on-one. This time it’s the post that denies him. He’s been dangerous in his first NHL playoff game.
- Dobeš heads off with two minutes to play.
- They can’t get a dangerous look, and that was true for almost the entirety of the third period. Buffalo did well to lock down the slot once they took the lead.
- Montreal drops to 2-3 in home games this post-season and the series is tied. The good news is the next game will be played on the road, where they’re 4-2, and will be looking to retake the lead in this series.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) St-Louis needs to cut that part of his game right away
2) Luukkonen was a big factor tonight
1) He’s having an amazing series
