5/16/26 – 8:00 pm at Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec
TV – US – ABC, Canada – CBC Hockey Night In Canada
Buffalo – 50-23-9 | – 109 points – 1st place in the Atlantic Division
Montreal – 48-24-10 | – 106 points – 3rd place in the Atlantic Division
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Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play(Reg) – 19.5% (21st)
Power Play(Playoffs) – 6 for 42 – 14.3% (11th)
Penalty Kill(Reg) – 81.9% (4th)
Penalty Kill(Playoffs) – 30 for 38 – 78.9% (12th)
Montreal
Power Play(Reg) – 23.1% (10th)
Power Play(Playoffs) – 11 for 48 – 22.9% (6th)
Penalty Kill(Reg) – 78.2% (18th)
Penalty Kill(Playoffs) – 37 for 47 – 78.7% (13th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 11 GP, 4 G, 7 A, 11 PTS
Josh Doan: 11 GP, 3 G, 7 A, 10 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 11 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 PTS
Montreal
Lane Hutson: 12 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 PTS
Nick Suzuki: 12 GP, 4 G, 8 A, 12 PTS
Juraj Slafkovský: 12 GP, 4 G, 5 A, 9 PTS
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Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (4-3, 2.25 GAA, .917 Sv %)
Montreal – Jakub Dobes (7-5, 2.28 GAA, .914 Sv %)
Other Sabres Stories
Canadiens Sluggish In Game 1 Loss
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings
Forwards
Peyton Krebs – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Josh Norris – Josh Doan
Jason Zucker – Konsta Helenius – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Ryan McLeod – Beck Malenstyn
Ex., Tanner Pearson, Josh Dunne, Tyson Kozak
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson – Rasmus Dahlin
Ex. Logan Stanley, Michael Kesselring, Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
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Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve – out for the season)
Noah Ostlund (lower body, Apr 28; week-to-week)
Sabres Playoff Stats Leaders
Shots: Dahlin (38), Tuch (37), Thompson (35)
Hits: Samuelsson (43), Malenstyn (37), Tuch (34)
Blocked Shots: Timmins (25), Samuelsson (22), Dahlin (14)
Notes
A win tonight would mark the second time Buffalo has earned five wins in their first six road contests in a single playoff year. Buffalo split the first two road games of this series, emerging victorious in the most recent road matchup between the two teams in Game 4 (3-2).
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In his last six games, Zach Benson has registered six points (3+3).Benson has four goals in the playoffs and is the first Sabres skater age 21 or younger to register four or more goals in a single playoff year since Pierre Turgeon in 1988 (4; 18 years old).
Josh Doan’s plus-5 rating is the best mark by a Sabres forward in the first 11 games of their playoff career since Paul Gaustad (plus-5) and Derek Roy (plus-6) from April 22 to May 13, 2006. In his last eight games, Doan has registered 10 points (3+7), including at least one point in each of his last six contests.
In his last seven games, Rasmus Dahlin has posted seven points (2+5), including an assist in three straight games. With an assist tonight, Dahlin would join Owen Power as the only Sabres defensemen who have registered an assist streak of at least four games in this year’s playoffs. Dahlin would become just the fourth Buffalo defenseman all-time (Power, Alexei Zhitnik, Jason Woolley) to register an assist streak of four or more games in the playoffs.
Tage Thompson has tallied 11 points (4+7) in 11 playoff games thus far, including four points (2+2) in his last three games.Thompson’s four multi-point games in the playoffs are tied for the third most among all NHL skaters.
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Bowen Byram has recorded four goals in the playoffs and is one goal
away from recording the most goals by a Sabres defenseman in a single playoff year all-time.
Mattias Samuelsson (43 hits; three goals) is the only NHL defenseman with 40 or more hits and three or more goals in the playoffs.
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