5/14/26 – 7:00 pm at KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY
TV – US – TNT/TruTV/HBOMax, 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 40 – 15.0% (11th)
Penalty Kill(Reg) – 81.9% (4th)
Penalty Kill(Playoffs) – 30 for 36 – 83.3% (9th)
Montreal
Power Play(Reg) – 23.1% (10th)
Power Play(Playoffs) – 9 for 46 – 19.6% (6th)
Penalty Kill(Reg) – 78.2% (18th)
Penalty Kill(Playoffs) – 35 for 45 – 77.8% (13th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 10 GP, 4 G, 7 A, 11 PTS
Josh Doan: 10 GP, 2 G, 7 A, 9 PTS
Zach Benson: 10 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS
Montreal
Lane Hutson: 11 GP, 2 G, 8 A, 10 PTS
Nick Suzuki: 11 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 PTS
Cole Caufield: 11 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2-1, 3.37 GAA, .873 Sv %)
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Montreal – Jakub Dobes (6-5, 2.22 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
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
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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/Tuch (35), Thompson (32), Doan (24)
Hits: Samuelsson (42), Malenstyn (31), Tuch (30)
Blocked Shots: Timmins (25), Samuelsson (19), Dahlin (13)
Notes
This season marks the first time the Sabres have advanced past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since they advanced to the 2007 Eastern Conference Final. The Sabres have earned three playoff series victories over the Canadiens in franchise history. Buffalo last faced Montreal in the playoffs in the 1998 Eastern Conference Semifinals, a series in which the Sabres won four games to none.
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The Sabres also defeated the Canadiens three games to none in the 1983 Adams Division Semifinals and four games to two in the 1975 Semifinals. Buffalo’s win in Game 4 marked the first Sabres playoff victory in which their opponent had at least seven power-play opportunities since May 4, 2007 vs. NY Rangers (7). The win marked the third time Buffalo has earned four wins in the team’s first five road contests in a single playoff year. The Sabres also did so from April 11 to May 2, 2001 and April 22 to May 14, 1998.
In his last five games, Zach Benson has registered six points (3+3), including the game-winning goal in Game 4 at Montreal on Tuesday. 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). With one more goal, Benson would become the first Sabres skater age 21 or younger to register five or more goals in a single playoff year since Danny Gare in 1976 (5; 21 years old).
Josh Doan and Peyton Krebs’ plus-5 ratings are tied with Derek Roy and Paul Gaustad from April 22 to May 11, 2006, and Matthew Barnaby from May 8, 1993 to May 7, 1997 for the best mark by a Sabres forward in the first 10 games of their playoff career. In his last seven games, Doan has registered nine points (2+7), including at least one assist in each of his last five contests. An assist tonight would make Doan the first Sabres skater since Alexei Zhitnik from May 14 to 27, 1999 (six games; 1+6) to register an assist streak of six or more games in the playoffs (within a single playoff year).
He would become one of five Buffalo skaters (Dale Hawerchuk, Pat LaFontaine, Gilbert Perreault, Zhitnik) to record an assist streak of six or more games in the playoffs at least one time. • Any point tonight would make Doan the first Sabres skater to post a point streak of six or more games in the playoffs since Thomas Vanek from April 14 to 27, 2007 (six games; 5+2).
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Tage Thompson has tallied 11 points (4+7) in 10 playoff games thus far, including two points in each of the last two contests. Thompson’s four multi-point games in the playoffs were tied for the second-most among all NHL skaters entering play on Wednesday. A multi-point effort tonight would make Thompson the first Buffalo skater to register three or more consecutive multi-point games in the playoffs since Miroslav Satan from April 14 to 17, 2001 (three games; 2+4). A goal in tonight’s game would make him the first Sabres forward to record a goal streak of three or more games in the playoffs since Jason Pominville from April 18 to 25, 2007 (three games; 3+0). Thompson is the first Sabres skater to record at least one point per game through the first 10 playoff games of their career since Tim Connolly from (April 22, 2006 to April 14, 2007; 5+7). Thompson is the only Buffalo skater to do so in a single playoff year.
In his last six games, Rasmus Dahlin has posted six points (2+4), including an assist in back-to-back games. With an assist tonight, Dahlin would join Doan, Thompson and Owen Power as the only Sabres skaters who have registered an assist streak of at least three games in this year’s playoffs.
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 (42 hits; three goals) was the only NHL defenseman with 40 or more hits and three or more goals in the playoffs entering play on Wednesday. He was one of just two NHL skaters who had both (Ivan Barbashev; 61 hits and three goals).
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