The Buffalo Sabres will host the Montreal Canadiens for Game 1 of their second-round playoff series at KeyBank Center on May 6. Both teams are coming off first-round victories and enter this matchup as young, balanced squads with recent success.
This meeting renews a longstanding division rivalry that dates back to the Sabres’ inaugural playoff appearance in 1973. The significance of this series is heightened by both teams’ similar trajectories, as each recently defeated established division leaders to advance.
Buffalo reached the second round after eliminating the Boston Bruins in six games, highlighted by goaltender Alex Lyon’s strong performance. Lyon allowed just five goals over five games and posted a .955 save percentage during his time in net. The Canadiens advanced past the Tampa Bay Lightning thanks to goalie Jakub Dobes, who started all seven games and achieved a .923 save percentage. Montreal’s lineup features notable players such as Cole Caufield, who scored 50 goals during the season, and defenseman Lane Hutson.
Coverage of Game 1 begins with pregame shows at 6:30 p.m., followed by puck drop at 7 p.m. on TNT and truTV nationally; streaming is available on HBO Max. Radio coverage will be provided by WGR 550 and the Buffalo Sabres App.
The Sabres will use their same lineup from the end of their previous series against Boston, with Logan Stanley returning after illness kept him out of Game 6. Sam Carrick remains sidelined due to injury and Tyson Kozak will continue centering the fourth line.
Zach Benson said about facing Montreal: “Any Canadian kid dreams of playing against the Habs, regular season or playoffs. But I think playoffs just intensifies it that much more. … You know the Bell Centre’s gonna be electric, so it’s gonna be a pretty cool series.”
Head coach Lindy Ruff addressed his team’s approach: “We’re not gonna try to copy Tampa, or watch film and say, ‘Boy, if we do what this player did for Tampa, we’re gonna be a lot better team.’ We were a good team playing our game. We probably started the last series off not quite on our game, and we’ve got to get to our game a lot quicker in this series than we did.”
This matchup may differ stylistically from Buffalo’s previous round against Boston; while Boston played physically and focused on defensive structure, Montreal relies more heavily on speed—ranking seventh in rush goals during regular season play while Buffalo led that category.
