Montreal Canadiens Advance to Eastern Conference Final After Game 7 Thriller

Game Seven, the two best words in sports and for the Montreal Canadiens, they found themselves in the exact same situation they were in during their first round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

After winning Game 5 in Buffalo last Thursday, the Canadiens returned to the Bell Centre for their first Saturday night game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs and it was their most important game yet. Despite going up 3-1 in first period thanks to goals from Arber Xhekaj, Ivan Demidov and Jake Evans, the Canadiens would allow seven unanswered goals from the Buffalo Sabres enroute to an 8-3 loss, which set up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Monday night.

The Canadiens aren't afraid of a little adversity and were quite confident about their chances to wrap up this series on the road in Buffalo. Coming into Monday night's contest, Martin St. Louis' group had a 5-0 record in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs following a loss and if they were going to win this one, they knew that goaltender Jakub Dobeš to stand on his head, as he's done all postseason long.

Montreal has struggled at the beginning of games in this series, as Buffalo has scored the first goal in five of the six games coming into Monday, but it was the Canadiens who would get on the board early in the first period. Less than five minutes into the game, veteran forward Phillip Danault gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with Kaiden Guhle's pass going off his skate and past Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

With less than six minutes remaining in the opening period, the Canadiens would double their lead on the power play as Zachary Bolduc rifled home a shot on a sweet feed from captain Nick Suzuki, making it 2-0 Montreal after 20 minutes of play.

The second period is where some of those same habits that cost Montreal in Game 6 began creeping in once again. Instead of pressing for a third goal, the Canadiens essentially parked the bus and opted to play a lot more defensively in order to hold onto the lead. It didn't work in Game 6 and it didn't work in Game 7 as the Buffalo Sabres would find the back of the net 13 minutes into the second period.

Montreal was getting hemmed down in their own zone when the puck comes out to defenseman Mattias Samuelsson at the top of the hashmarks and he made the Canadiens pay, firing a shot through a screened Jakub Dobeš and off the pants of forward Jordan Greenway for his second of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, giving Buffalo some life heading into the second intermission.

It was much of the same for Montreal in the third period as they continued to sit back and not only allowing the Sabres to enter the zone with ease, but giving them the chance to get sustained pressure for 30-45 second spurts. After a non-call on Jason Zucker running Jakub Dobeš, the Buffalo Sabres capitalized off the next face-off. Captain Rasmus Dahlin snuck past Kirby Dach, received a pass from former first overall pick Owen Power and beat Dobeš short side to tie the game up at 2-2.

Buffalo thought they got the lead a bit later in the third period, but a quick whistle put that opportunity to bed. The Sabres would outshoot the Canadiens 24-11 in the final 40 minutes and thanks to yet another outstanding performance from Jakub Dobeš, this game would head to overtime for the first time in the series.

The Sabres and Canadiens would trade chances early on in overtime before Montreal said au revoir to Buffalo a little over 11 minutes into the extra frame. Rasmus Dahlin kept it in at Montreal's blue line before Tage Thompson turned it over, with Alexandre Carrier jumping on the loose puck. Carrier skated into the neutral zone and just before he hit the red line, fired a pass across the ice to the speedy Alex Newhook, who used Dahlin as a screen and put the puck past Luukkonen to give the Canadiens another Game 7 win, helping them advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

With the win, Montreal has now advanced to their fourth Conference Final in the last 16 years - 2010 ECF vs Philadelphia Flyers (loss), 2014 ECF vs New York Rangers (loss), 2021 "WCF" vs Vegas Golden Knights (won), 2026 ECF vs Carolina Hurricanes. Montreal and Carolina will meet for the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final, with the two teams facing each other in the postseason for the first time since 2006 and third time since the Hurricanes' relocation from Hartford in 1997.

2026 Eastern Conference Final schedule

• Game 1: Thursday, May 21st at 8 pm ET in Carolina.
• Game 2: Saturday, May 23rd at 7 pm ET in Carolina.
• Game 3: Monday, May 25th at 8 pm ET in Montreal.
• Game 4: Wednesday, May 27th at 8 pm ET in Montreal.
• Game 5: Friday, May 29th at 8 pm ET in Carolina (if necessary).
• Game 6: Sunday, May 31st at TBD in Montreal (if necessary).
• Game 7: Tuesday, June 2nd at 8 pm ET in Carolina (if necessary).

The Canadiens will have Tuesday off after flying back to Montreal following last night's win, before preparations begin for the Eastern Conference Final tomorrow. Game 1, as can be seen above, is set for Thursday night at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Puck drop will be a little after 8 pm ET and can be seen on Sportsnet in Canada, along with TNT in the United States.