2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference SFs
Game 6: Montreal Canadiens (A3) vs. Buffalo Sabres (A1)
MTL leads 3-2
Start time: **8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT**
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: ABC
Streaming: Sportsnet+
A couple of times in this series it looked like the Buffalo Sabres had the answer for the Montreal Canadiens’ offence. The Habs were held to two goals in the opening game as the Sabres looked strong in their first game at home. When Alex Lyon’s effectiveness waned in Games 2 and 3, they brought in the bigger Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and again Montreal’s offence was contained in Game 4. But as we’ve seen through 12 games in this post-season, Martin St-Louis and his coaching staff quickly came up with a response after each of those losses, and now they hold a 3-2 series lead thanks to adjustments that Lindy Ruff’s group hasn’t been able to match.
Lyon lost the net after Game 3, but with Luukkonen lit up for five goals in 40 minutes on Thursday, Lyon is back in for tonight’s game, and the Sabres need him to be at least as good as he was in Game 1, and probably even better considering that Montreal’s power play started to operate with more urgency last game, going two-for-two following a one-for-seven outing the previous game.
Montreal will need to be prepared for a desperate opponent. That’s a double-edged sword for Buffalo as they will want to force the issue offensively to keep Montreal on its heels, but that has also taken them out of position defensively and allowed the Canadiens to charge back toward the offensive zone all series long. The Sabres rely on the defencemen to set up the offence, then switch to a defensive formation when they hold a lead late. Incorporating both of those styles at the same time might be too much of an ask for such a young, inexperienced team.
Ideally the Canadiens will be the ones with the fast start and not spot the Sabres the opening goal, as has been the case in four of the five games played so far. Adding a little panic into the equation for Buffalo would only open things up even more for Montreal’s offence and make the quest for the Eastern Conference Final a little bit easier.
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: Owen Beck, Adam Engström, Brendan Gallagher, Oliver Kapanen, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, David Reinbacher, Jayden Struble, Florian Xhekaj
Buffalo Sabres projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #6 Zach Benson | #9 Josh Norris | #72 Tage Thompson |
| #91 Josh Doan | #71 Ryan McLeod | #89 Alex Tuch |
| #17 Jason Zucker | #94 Konsta Helenius | #22 Jack Quinn |
| #12 Jordan Greenway | #19 Peyton Krebs | #29 Beck Malenstyn |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #26 Rasmus Dahlin | #23 Mattias Samuelsson |
| #4 Bowen Byram | #25 Owen Power |
| #73 Zach Metsa | #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, Tyson Kozak, Tanner Pearson, Luke Schenn, Logan Stanley
