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+
For the second time in a row, the Montreal Canadiens went into a series without home-ice advantage and were able to win a pivotal Game 5 on the road to set themselves up with a chance to close out a series on home ice. They weren’t able to take advantage of that chance in the opening round versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, and have only managed to go 2-3 in their games at the Bell Centre so far this post-season, so tonight is chance to improve on both of those counts.
The reason they weren’t able to get it done versus the Lightning was an outstanding performance from Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. The goaltender stopped a number of odd-man rushes that night and stole a 1-0 win for his team to force a Game 7. The Buffalo Sabres’ goaltending hasn’t shown that same quality, however. Thursday’s Game 4 was the third time in the series that Montreal scored at least five goals; the Habs never had more than four versus Vasilevskiy, and that was an overtime result. Montreal has lit up both Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for five goals in the series now, and not only is the goaltending less capable of slowing down Montreal, now the two members of the tandem have each been pulled from starting duty, and the potential of getting removed from the biggest game of Buffalo’s season, possibly the last, will be in the back of their mind.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Sabres |
|---|---|---|
| 48.7% | Expected-goal share | 51.1% |
| 3.08 | Goals per game | 3.00 |
| 2.33 | Goals against per game | 3.00 |
| 22.9% | PP% | 14.3% |
| 78.7% | PK% | 78.9% |
| Alex Newhook (6) | Most goals | Alex Tuch (4) |
| Lane Hutson (10) | Most assists | Tage Thompson (7) |
| Nick Suzuki (12) | Most points | Tage Thompson (11) |
The goaltending isn’t the only aspect crumbling under the pressure of a difficult series. Buffalo hasn’t dealt with adversity well at all in the five games played, taking penalties at bad times and, with the exception of Game 4, getting burned while in the box. The star players who rampaged through the regular season are left frustrated by Montreal’s defence or Jakub Dobeš when they do manage to get a puck through, and the feeling of hopelessness only grows seeing how easily the Canadiens are able to rack up goals.
Perhaps the most disappointing star player for Buffalo has been Rasmus Dahlin. The series was touted as a battle between two of the game’s elite defenceman in Dahlin — revealed as a Norris Trophy finalist following Game 1 — and Lane Hutson, but Hutson has been in full command of this head-to-head battle. After very similar regular seasons of 74 points in 77 games for Dahlin and 78 in 82 for Hutson, Montreal’s superstar blue-liner has six points in five games and a +3 rating, while Buffalo’s captain has four points, sports a -1 differential, and, maybe most harmful of all, has been handed 12 minutes in penalties, spending time in the penalty box instead of being on the ice to help his teammates.
With the substandard play of their captain, Tage Thompson being overwhelmed in his minutes to the point of being a -9 through five games, and the vanishing of Alex Tuch altogether with zero points in the series, the Sabres face a difficult road to turn their regular-season division title into a post-season one. The other three section leaders have already punched their tickets to the final four, but now the Sabres need to win the final two games to join them.
If the task hadn’t been tough enough with Montreal’s play this round, the Sabres now have to deal with Cole Caufield regaining his finishing touch with goals in three straight games, and Ivan Demidov who decided to not just be a facilitator on his line with Alex Newhook and Jake Evans but start to take the shots himself. Demidov was a different player after getting a puck through Luukkonen that Evans pounded into the net, seeing that he had the ability to solve a goaltender in the playoffs and then taking over a power play early in the third period to score his first playoff goal after a high-energy shift. That line alone was capable of outscoring the Sabres each night with how Newhook has played this series. With Demidov now joining him, the already overwhelmed Buffalo defence will face an even greater challenge with its season on the line.
