The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it promises to be an entertaining matchup.
After a day off in Tampa Bay on Monday, the Montreal Canadiens will practice in Florida before making their way to the state of New York for the first duel of their series with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.
While the Habs needed seven games to get past the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres only needed six games to get past the Boston Bruins in their first-round series. Only two of their games were decided by a single goal, and only one needed extra time. Buffalo outscored Boston 20-12, while Montreal edged Tampa by a single goal,16-15. A single goal decided every single game in the Habs-Bolts series, and four games were decided in overtime.
Buffalo had the worst power play efficiency in the first round, only scoring one man-advantage marker in 24 opportunities for a 4.2% success rate. Meanwhile, the Canadiens had a 19.2% efficiency, scoring five goals on 26 opportunities, although three of their goals came in the first game. The Sabres fared much better on the penalty kill, only allowing two goals in 16 opportunities for 87.5%. As for the Canadiens, they gave up five power-play goals on 29 opportunities for a 82.8% efficiency.
In net, Jakub Dobes was between the posts for the Canadiens’ seven games, but the situation wasn’t as stable for the Sabres. Buffalo started the series with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who won the first game, but he was pulled from the second game after surrendering four goals on 20 shots. Alex Lyon took over, and Luukkonen rode the pine for the rest of the series. In five games, Lyon had a 1.14 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage.
Up front, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch lead the charge with seven points each, followed by Peyton Krebs with six. The Sabres also benefited from a lot of offensive support from the blueline, with Bowen Byram notching five points, while Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin both had four. Meanwhile, the Canadiens were led by Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson, who had six points each, followed by Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle, Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Texier, all of whom had four.
This series will mark the eighth time the Canadiens and the Sabres have met in the postseason and the first time since the Conference Semifinal in 1998. Back then, the Sabres had become the third team in NHL history to sweep the Canadiens. However, the Habs have won four of the seven series so far, and they also swept the Sabres once en route to winning the Stanley Cup in 1993.
The Sabres finished the season with 109 points, three more than the Canadiens, but the two teams split their four regular-season matchups. Montreal won 4-2 in October and at the end of January, while the Sabres won two games of their own, 5-3 and 4-2, in the span of a week in January. It’s worth noting that Dobes was in the net for both of the Canadiens’ wins, while Colton Ellis and Luukkonen backstopped the Sabres to their two wins.
While the Canadiens’ top line struggled to make a mark at even strength in the first round against Tampa Bay, they should fare better against Buffalo. Despite having a solid defense, the Sabres do not have the same kind of defensive forward as the Lightning does. Furthermore, in the four regular-season duels, Suzuki put up eight points while Caufield had six. Meanwhile, Thompson led the Sabres with seven points, followed by Noah Ostlund, who had four.
The series will kick off on Wednesday night in Buffalo, with Game 2 on Friday night. The series will then move to Montreal for Game 3, which will take place on Sunday, May 10, while Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here.