Montreal Canadiens Overcome Early Scare, Take 3-2 Series Lead in Buffalo

Hockey can be a rollercoaster of emotions at times and Thursday night at the KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo was no exception as the Canadiens and Sabres entered Game 5 looking to take a step closer towards reaching the Eastern Conference Final.

The Montreal Canadiens were left searching for answers after their Game 4 loss on home ice to Buffalo on Tuesday, but there was no need to panic as Martin St. Louis' group has shown time and time again that they can bounce back. Coming into Game 5, the Canadiens had a 4-0 record in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a loss and in order to get to 5-0, they knew were going to have to dig deep against a hungry Buffalo Sabres squad.

Montreal Canadiens take 3-2 series lead over the Buffalo Sabres

First Period

After a low-scoring affair on Tuesday night, the Canadiens and Sabres combined for five goals in the opening 20 minutes of Game 5, with Buffalo at one point having three goals on four shots. It wasn't the greatest start for Montreal Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobeš and Martin St. Louis had a good reason to pull him, if he wanted to, but after a talk with goaltending coach Marco Marciano, he stuck by the rookie and it paid off in the end.

Two minutes into the first period, Jason Zucker tipped in his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal since 2024, giving the Sabres an early 1-0 lead. However, Montreal would bounce back a little over four minutes later, Cole Caufield finally scored his first goal at even strength in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.

The scoring didn't stop there as less than a minute later, the Buffalo Sabres retook the lead thanks to Josh Doan's third of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Buffalo's lead didn't last long as right off the faceoff, the Canadiens dumped the puck into the Sabres zone where Alexandre Carrier found Alexandre Texier at the back post to tie things up at 2-2.

Just past the halfway point of the first period, Buffalo struck again as Finnish rookie Konsta Helenius picked up his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal in his second postseason game to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead. That would be the last goal the Sabres would score on this night as the Canadiens took over in the second period.

Second Period

After a goalless start to the second period, the Montreal Canadiens would find the back of the net 8:01 into the middle frame on a beautiful feed from Lane Hutson to Josh Anderson, who buried his third of the postseason and first since Game 2 of their first round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Eight minutes later, the Canadiens would take their first lead of the night as Jake Evans tallied his first of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his first postseason goal since June 2nd, 2021 against the Winnipeg Jets. Montreal would add another to their goal total before the end of the second period with captain Nick Suzuki fired a shot past the blocker of Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as the Canadiens would go up 4-2 after 40 minutes.

Third Period

Early in the third period, the Canadiens would get their second power play of the night as Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin went off for cross-checking Calder Trophy finalist Ivan Demidov, who has had a tough time trying to find the back of the net in the Stanley Cup Playoffs thus far, coming into Thursday night with seven assists in 16 games.

Demidov led the Canadiens in shots in Game 5 with five and on the power play, he finally found the back of the net, ripping one top corner past Alex Lyon, who came into the game at the start of the third period in relief. His first playoff goal gave the Canadiens a 6-3 lead and for the third time in this series, Montreal scored five or more goals, which is something the coaching staff is certainly pleased with.

"It's an amazing feeling to score a goal. It's hard to describe the feeling, so...I hope I'm going to have a couple more times." Demidov said to Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas post-game.

When asked about the support he's gotten from his teammates during his struggles to find the back of the net, Demidov added, "I mean, everyone was so happy when I scored and I really appreciate it from our group."

After a shaky start, Jakub Dobes put on yet another outstanding performance in the final 40 minutes, especially in the third period as he turned aside all 20 shots the Buffalo Sabres threw his way, as the Canadiens would hold on to take Game 5 by a score of 6-3.

For the first time in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens will get to play in front of their fans on a Saturday night. There's nothing better than a Saturday night at the Bell Centre and with the added importance of Game 6, it should be an electric atmosphere, as is always the case.

With a win on Saturday night, the Canadiens will advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2014 (reminder that 2021 they were in the Western Conference Final). Puck drop for Game 6 is set for 8 pm ET on CBC & Sportsnet in Canada, along with TNT in the United States.