Last-minute schedule change for Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens ahead of Buffalo series
Martin St-Louis isn't flying his Montreal Canadiens home after Game 7. The team is staying in Tampa until Tuesday before heading straight to Buffalo.
Game 1 of the second round drops Wednesday night at 7 in Buffalo. The Sabres have been waiting since Thursday after closing out Boston in 6 games.
It's a logistics call with a message attached. No flight back to Montreal, no parade lap, no break in rhythm after Sunday night's 2-1 win over Tampa.
Lindy Ruff's group earned the wait. The Sabres finished 50-23-9 with 109 points, first in the Atlantic, and went 26-10-5 at home.
Tage Thompson posted 81 points in the regular season and kept rolling against the Bruins. Seven points in 6 games. Plus-7.
Rasmus Dahlin added 74 points over 77 games and chipped in 4 more in the first round. Buffalo brings two real problem solvers up the middle of the ice.
Alex Lyon vs Jakub Dobes is the matchup that swings this
The goaltending picture is where this gets strange. Buffalo rode Alex Lyon for 5 starts in round one and he posted a .955 save percentage.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the regular-season starter at .908, only got 2 looks. Ruff is going with the hot hand.
Jakub Dobes carried Montreal for all 7 games against Tampa with a .923 save percentage. He's the reason this team is still playing.
Does Ruff ride Lyon all the way? Five starts is a small body of work. The numbers don't care.
The road has been kind to the Habs. They went 24-9-8 away from the Bell Centre this year. That's not the worry.
The worry is Buffalo isn't Tampa. The regular-season series split 2-2, including a 5-3 Sabres win in January at KeyBank.
Nick Suzuki put up 101 points and scored the Game 7 winner Sunday. He's the engine. Cole Caufield's 51 goals don't hurt either.
Staying in Florida and skating Tuesday tells you what St-Louis wants. Keep the legs warm, keep the room calm, skip the noise of a triumphant return.
Two extra days of rest is real. A goalie playing out of his mind is real too. Wednesday answers a lot of questions, fast.
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| POLL | ||
MAI 4 | 539 ANSWERS Last-minute schedule change for Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens ahead of Buffalo series Will Jakub Dobes outduel Alex Lyon in this series? | ||
| Yes | 396 | 73.5 % |
| No | 143 | 26.5 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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HIER
16 MAI 2026
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| B | P | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| STATS COMPLÈTES | ||||